North Academy is about to get interesting!
by LostXandXLonely
Summary: Jesse is back at North Academy after his time with Jaden and the gang. He has very few friends and it seems like his last months at the academy will also be the most boring. What happens when the new girl with special gifts and huge issues catches his eye
1. Just a pretty face?

**Summary: Jesse is back at North Academy after his time with Jaden and the gang. He has very few friends and it seems like his last year at the academy will also be the most boring. What happens when the new girl catches Jesse's eye? Read to find out!**

**AN: Please Read Thanks**

**BTW: Jesse is OOC but still as delicious as ever! I renamed Alexis to Kari like my original draft due to popular demand. I'm sorry that I offended anyone with my original portrayal of her character. I also admit to being unaware that there were only three years at any school. I'm fixing that too. See when you review I change things. I also understand that this story might be moving quickly but I never intended that this story would be long.**

**Ps Thanks Dirigo for all your help and thanks for actually helping me write a better story. I'm also letting everyone know that Sage will definitely not look like Bella from Twilight after the next chapter. Shes way to cynical :)****. **

**I DO NOT OWN Yu-Gi-Oh! GX OR ANY RELATED PRODUCTS!!!!!! But I do own this story!**

**Just a pretty face?**

**JessePOV**

Today was just another day at North Academy: cloudy skies with some patches of blue, the beach getting pelted by the waves, and me being bored with thing to do and no one to duel.

On today's schedule was thinking, thinking about my deck, and trying not think about a certain brunette I couldn't get out of my head. After he had saved me from Yubel I couldn't help but think about Jaden and how much I missed my best friend **(****cough, cough).**

And because I was the kid who could talk to monster spirits, I was not only labeled as the top student at North Academy, I was the school freak. No matter what I tried, I just didn't get people here and they didn't like me. I had no friends, only fangirls screaming "OMG Jesse! We love you! AHHHHH!" Not only did that shrieking give me a headache, I hated being treated as a figure, not a person. This semester I wanted more and hopefully that girl or guy would find their way to me. Maybe my underclassman mentee was going to be more than just a chore this time too. Who knows?

Speaking of which I remembered I needed to go pick up the frosh now. I began to hurry to the office in the main building but I realized I was going to have to go by the dock. I internally groaned at this though. Today was the start of the semester and everybody and I mean everybody was going to be there. I could already visualize the mob of screaming girls waiting for me to show up so they could attack me. "Crap!" I said out loud, wishing this thought wasn't true.

I tried my best not to be noticed by sneaking around the absolute perimeter of the overflowing dock. Eventually, out of all the people that could have spotted me, Kari had to see me going ninja around the insanity that was the incoming freshmen.

I hate Kari. She diluted herself into thinking that I like her. I honestly gag a bit every time I see her. She has to be the fakest human being on the entire planet. I don't understand in the first place why girls put makeup on and wear shoes that look like torture devices but if you've ever seen a blonde doll with a smile permanently on their face, that is something similar to her. Honestly Kari is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for. From her bleached blonde hair, to her always-painted toes that she insisted were always perfectly manicured, I couldn't be within ten feet of fakeness that was _Kari _or the rest of her evil minions!

"Heyyyy Jesse! See girls! I told you he was looking for me! What do you want to do tonight Jess? I was thinking a movie in my room and maybe a make out sesh? You know how much I love it when you…."

I just had to tune her out and walk away before I slapped her. She always just spread lies about how we would hook up or do something that we definitely didn't do. Again, I hate Kari and her evil minions!

As I began to head for the hills, I was suddenly knocked to the ground. I looked at the weight that was on top of me and I couldn't breathe. I had the most beautiful girl sprawled on my chest with the most amazing emerald green eyes and long thick chocolate colored hair. Her delicate face was scrunched up tight with a slight blush rising on her cheeks. She didn't stop saying sorry for what seemed like a few minutes but I couldn't tell. I was too mesmerized by the way her full lips were moving to really be angry or to understand what she was saying.

"Hey, don't worry about it," I tried to say coherently as I helped both of us to our feet. "I haven't seen you around here before, have I?" I asked in the most nonchalant way I could muster.

"No, I'm new. I'm so sorry I ran into you like that. I'm such a klutz. I trip on everything in a two-foot radius. It's a bit of a curse. But since I have your attention would you mind pointing me in the direction of the office?" She spoke with absolutely the most magical rhythmic voice I had ever heard.

"Yeah. It's that way," I pointed to the main building. She said something that sounded like thanks and took off towards the main building. "My name is Jesse by the way!" I tried to scream after her but I didn't think she heard me. I sighed as I began walking to the school mentoring office. I mentally kicked myself for not getting the mystery girl's name as I reminisced about how beautiful she was. Her face was almost like seeing the sun for the first time after an intense study session with all of the natural light blocked out, It was blinding.

It seems like North Academy just got interesting.

**Hey guys! This is my first story had I'm hoping this goes well. Please read and review! I'm looking for any and all suggestions or input. Let me know and thanks for reading!**

**See Ya!**

**LostXandXLonely**


	2. Rainbow Soul

**Summary: Jesse is back at North Academy after his year with Jaden and the gang. He has very few friends and it seems like his last year at the academy will also be the most boring. What happens when the new girl catches Jesse's eye? Read to find out!**

**AN: Original Character incoming! With every story I write, I try to include one at least one personal touch such as a new character or something along those lines. So here she is! Sage is kind of based off myself personality wise i.e. awkward, clumsy, a bit eccentric and cynical, and above all not stupid! Sorry my biggest pet peeve is when a girl thinks its cool to be extremely stupid!**

**I also want to address a review that I received. I also want to make it clear that writing OOC is just what I do. Isn't the whole point of fan fiction to take characters and put them into different situations? I mean you only have the characters reactions of what happened in the show so some of the situations you put them in force them to be OOC.**

**Any ways before I go on a huge rant here is chap 2!**

**I do not own GX but I do love Jesse!**

**Rainbow Soul**

**SagePOV**

Crap Crap Crap! I am so late for my meeting! I tried to rush to the office but a few things stopped me. 1) My complete and total lack of knowledge for North Academy geography. And the fact that I can't read a map of this school to tell me where the office is. 2) The blinding colors of the people zooming past me. And of course 3) I can't walk on a flat stable surface without tripping over something unless I use my gift, which I can't do in front of all these people. Running is not an option for me ever which makes rushing hard to do.

I should probably tell you why I'm here at the fabulous North Academy in the first place and what a freak I am. A few months ago I began to develop weird sight patterns. I would randomly see a bunch of color flashing and each color was unique to each person. I could even sense the meanings behind the colors and I could even get insights to what people were thinking by focusing in on certain shades appearing or disappearing in their color. I know its confusing and hopefully one day I will understand the readings fully but who knows?

Anyways, back to how the readings were messing up my life… At first I was just getting these readings randomly so I would just get bad headaches with the influx of color. It got so bad that my stupid parents had me tested like a lab rat. The 'doctors' diagnosed me with extreme synesthesia or color association. They went so far as to say I was psychic. I was the weird girl no one wanted to hang out with at school because people were just stupid and shallow. If I was being completely honest I might admit that I wouldn't want to be friends with me. So because I was different, everyone shunned me including my parents. Of course the chaos ensued with _them_ and my hatred for them began to run deeper. The only thing I could be around were my duel cards. I realized by focusing my gift I could read my opponents moves or at least the intentions behind them.

Of course I got a bunch of media attention as the "true psychic duelist" once I began to use my 'gift' in duels. And I found out that the only thing I hated more than my family was fame. Seriously screaming doesn't go well with a perpetual migraine. Then of course the best moment of my life happened. I met him, the king of games. Yugi was the only person that could understand what I was going through. He helped me design a deck with Mr. Pegasus, my aura deck. The one thing I could get use to here at North Academy was that everyone was as close to their cards as me… or at the very least they though they were.

So back to the present and away from my deep dark depressing life story, I was trying my best to get off the boat and to the office. Who knows what I tripped on but of course I fell on top of someone. I babble when I get nervous and I must have repeated the word sorry a thousand times when I saw him. At first I though I was going to be sick from all the color swirling around but once I got use to it, the swirling rainbow was hypnotic almost. The only things more hypnotic than the color were his emerald eyes once I stopped reading him. I just lay there, on top of him no less, staring like an idiot. He must have said something about me being new because the orange spiked as well as the purple, red too maybe.

"No, I'm new. I'm so sorry I ran into you like that. I'm such a klutz. I trip on everything in a two-foot radius. It's a bit of a curse. But since I have your attention would you mind pointing me in the direction of the office?" I figured I should get as much information out of the guy with the most beautiful aura I had ever seen and I ran like a dork so I could be embarrassed by myself. I heard the name Jesse being yelled in my direction and I chose to ignore it. I mean my name isn't Jesse!

Oh well…I guess I better go prepare myself for the most humiliation experience ever, My first day at North Academy.

**Okay I know this story is starting to sound weird and whatever but it will make sense eventually! Sage just sees the world differently after those random flashes of color. Basically depending of the characteristics of that person or thing, their essence/soul/aura will reflect that which is what sees. Its kind of like seeing a person's true intentions without them even knowing what they are. Different colors mean different things and if requested enough I will post a guide either on my profile or as an extra chapter. **

**Read and Review Please!**

**See Ya!**

**LostXandXLonely**


	3. I didn't think so

**Hello everyone. I'm updating early because I received two really amazing reviews from Dirigo. Thanks again for actually making me want to continue writing this story after some of the flames I've gotten. **

**Anyways enjoy :)**

**SPOV**

I didn't think so

Now that I was seeing the world in a swirl of colors, everything was so clear, so familiar in a sense. I could see the white ocean pulling away the impurities of the speckled beach. I could see the gray sky with the slightly whiter clouds. I could even see a few human auras far in the distance through the trees.

Another weird thing about my reading is I can pick and choose what I see. I can basically melt trees away from my vision. It takes a bunch of concentration, but its worth it. Now that I could see the periwinkle aura of the girl through the trees, dorm, and cliffs, I felt like I had done enough surveying of my surroundings with my scary messed up eyes.

While I could admit that they were pretty cool and that they got me out of a bunch of tight spots, I truly hated my capabilities. It always felt like I was intruding on people, I mean no one could keep anything from me. Suddenly could feel my aura want to change colors from black to a cerulean blue in places I couldn't let it. Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to defeat. I could let that happen. I had worked to hard to become this strong.

As I began to gracefully cross the uneven path, I could feel another presence behind me. I looked up and saw the pink aura of my Aurelis behind me.

"Hey sweetie! I've missed you!" I said to my monster spirit.

She continued her happy giggly laugh and she began to dance around my head. Aurelis was my best friend. We got each other and she also had my back in too many duels to count. She of course she was my trump card and I mean honestly we had surprise on our side because a cute little fairy doesn't seem too menacing compared to some of my other cards. I mean come on she also doesn't seem like a level 10 card right?

When I finally got to the office everyone was in a busy rush so I wasn't noticed immediately. I called attention to myself and the scary receptionist proceeded by asking basic questions, scanning my deck, and assigning my dorm. Because of my history I was placed in Obelisk Blue. I was given a uniform and pushed into the direction of a changing room.

"Great! I not only get to look like everyone, though I'm going to probably get weird looks because of my eyes." I said to myself partially dripping in sarcasm, mostly relieved. I like to blend in and hide on the fray of things; it offers me a bit of comfort knowing that not everyone would know me immediately. Did I forget to mention that my eyes glow when I read? I probably skipped that sorry. I was going to permanently be labeled the glowing Obelisk or glow girl. The only way that this could get any worse is if people realize what I'm doing and then they hate me for the rest of time. I mean most people don't like revealing everything to a complete stranger. **(AN: I know, major exaggeration but just go with it…. Sage is going to be a bit of a drama queen)**

After my mini panic attack I was ushered to my next destination, The Mentoring Office or to me the next stop on the doom train! I experimented a bit at home and dark tinted sunglasses block some of the glow from my eyes so I've taken to wearing them quite a bit. I turned around when I heard a cute tinkling noise. The aura coming off of her was a distinct ruby red. I tried to remember where I had seen a shade similar to that but I was drawing a blank. She continued to prance about and I finally realized that she was a monster spirit even though I had never seen a card like her.

But just to prolong my torture we took a small detour so I could see my dorm. It looked similar to my grandparents' house. Big white mansion with several columns and its own personal garden, yeah, definitely something grandma would like. But as soon as we had seen the dorm in its entirety, I was ushered to another office, which I assumed was the place I would meet my mentor.

Just to be safe, I got a good reading on the people in the room and one thing made me want to cry, The rainbow kid. His Aura was flipping out and he seemed to be angry and annoyed at something he was repeatedly calling a 'runt'.

"The stupid runt isn't coming! I've had it, I'm leaving!" an angry male voice shrieked.

"I'm sorry," the escort apologized, "Mr. Anderson is our top student and is pretty much world famous but he can have some…difficult reactions to other people. He was the only student that could even begin to match your caliber and it is traditional at North Academy to have a third year paired with a freshman. Though hopefully he will become less hostile toward the idea of this."

Great! Whiney teenage boys trying to teach me something! I'm going to need to do some meditating after this encounter.

"Finally! Here is your mentee, Sage Arone. And Sage, your mentor Jesse Anderson," the receptionist said as she sat down from her screaming match.

Crap, a cute guy with bluish teal hair and deep emerald eyes was staring at me with the most hateful expression I've ever seen. Double crap, He's the aura kid! He is the nice guy that gave me directions. I could feel a few emotions in him begin to rise up, anger, embarrassment, sadness, disappointment, but definitely embarrassment. I could almost feel the waves of red coming off of him.

I removed my sunglasses and a complete and utter look of shock crossed his face. I decided to toy with him a bit.

"I guess your runt is here, or were you expecting someone else, Jesse?"

**Okay you know how to make me write faster! I have two chapters waiting so once I get a couple of reviews I'll post.**

**See Ya!**

**LostXandXLonely**


	4. Magazines are just lies

**Hello everyone... Thanks for all the reviews. I'm really excited getting all the notifications on my email because seriously they are just pushing my to write faster. I'm not kidding, just write two sentences and I guarantee that I'll work on a chapter that day and I'll post even sooner. **

**I have to say I'm liking this chapter a bit more than my others for some reason but who knows? This chapter basically shows what Jesse was up to while Sage was being escorted around. **

**I don't own yugioh GX so please don't hunt me down and sue me!**

Magazines are just lies

**JPOV**

After taking a few calming deep breaths and feeling collected, I began to pick myself up and walk to the mentoring office. I heard a tinkling noise and felt another presence. Ruby Carbuncle's face suddenly dropped down in front of my eyes.

"Hey Girl, is something wrong?" I asked my monster spirit. With that she was off. I had to sprint to keep up with her as she weaved and dodged through the path of people. I had to run at full speed to even be close to keeping up with her pace.

But as suddenly as she began, Ruby just stopped behind a bush next to the path leading to the main building. For as long as I could remember, this was how most of my adventures started, Ruby running off somewhere and us getting in trouble. I let out a small chuckle reminiscing on the past.

Ruby then bolted off to follow a girl. Her sapphire blue Obelisk uniform seemed to sparkle a bit in the sun as she followed a woman from the main office. I also noticed a bit of an odd glow behind her dark sunglasses when she walked past me. But her mouth was set into a nervous half smile. She stumbled a bit after Ruby made a sound. I guessed she can hear monster spirits when she turned around and took a fleeting glance at my Ruby. She seemed oddly familiar but I couldn't decide where or when I had seen her.

As I got up to get to the mentoring office I couldn't help but feel a pull that was almost magnetic to her. It wasn't something I had ever felt before so I just shrugged it off. I looked down at my watch to see how much trouble I was in and realized I only had three minutes to get to my destination across campus.

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With moments to spare I barely had time to catch my breath before my freshman was supposed to get here. I began to flip through a magazine that they had stacked in the waiting area. I skimmed a couple of articles about new cards and their strategies and one about the next big tournament and who was going to duel there. Soon I came to an article previewing a rising professional duelist that really caught my eye.

"Hmmmm, looks interesting enough." I muttered to myself.

_"Sage Arone is a new duelist on the circuit but don't underestimate her. At first she looks to be nothing more than a sweet cute little girl with shocking emerald eyes, but with a close look at her deck you can find the work of a teenage mastermind. After teaming up with top duelist, Yugi Motou, and Industrial Illusions president, Maximillon Pegasus, she created a one of a kind deck of completely her designs. This deck revolves around using the theme of aura cards. Through this one-of-a-kind deck she has become ranked in the top 20._

_Perhaps most surprising of all her countless stories though is the one of her past. After growing up to a respectable family Sage began to receive blasts of color instead of her usual sight. After being diagnosed with an extreme case of synesthesia or color association these color flashes settled out and became more of a second sight. Her powers don't stop there like most people think, her aura reading abilities also give her mind reading abilities. After being diagnosed she decided to test herself through dueling and eventually she went pro after mastering her deck. Now she is dubbed as 'the true psychic duelist' and is yet to be beaten. No one knows the full extent of her powers but we are sure to see her continuing to work her way up the ranks."_

As soon as I saw her picture I could feel my mouth drop open. To say she was cute was an understatement. I would have to do some more research to see when her next duel was because I would need to watch that. Her hair was a dark brown that resembled chocolate and fell to the middle of her back. She had a slight smirk on her face and was holding five cards in her hand. The dark fingerless gloves she was wearing were ratty and torn but the rest of her outfit appeared to be new. For some reason the sunglasses on her head looked really familiar but I ignored the feeling.

When I looked up at the clock I could feel my frustration growing. My little stupid runt of a freshman was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago. I had better places to be right now than in a stuffy office. It was just my luck that I would have to be put with probably some crappy duelist, but now mine was going to be bad and late.

"Great, just great," I said to myself as I saw little Ruby scampering to me, "Oh hey girl. How was your adventure?" I could always count on her to listen to me so I vented to her.

Afterwards she went up to lick my face but by now everyone was staring at me like I was insane. I always have to remind myself that not everyone could see monster spirits. I could guess how odd it would seem if someone was whispering and holding an imaginary cat.

"I can't believe our runt isn't here yet! I mean come on, how lost can you be at this place? We're just going to need to show her some manners when she finally gets here," I continued to whispered to my long time partner.

"The stupid runt isn't coming! I've had it, I'm leaving!" I stated rather loudly and accidentally the receptionist though I was speaking to her. I continued now that I had her attention though. I could finally hear footsteps down the hall while the receptionist and I started to argue back and forth.

"Finally! Here is your mentee, Sage Arone. And Sage, your mentor Jesse Anderson."

My mouth became instantly dry. Her long dark chestnut hair cascaded down her shoulders like a graceful waterfall. Her eyes were the deepest shade of emerald while her light skin made her sapphire uniform appear even deeper in color. I could feel the ruby heat crawl up my cheeks, not only because I was embarrassed, but also because she caught me looking. And then all of a sudden two things clicked. She was not only the girl at the dock that had fallen on top of me but the pro from the article. Shit.

"I guess your runt is here, or were you expecting someone else, Jesse?" she said in a crystal clear voice that sounded like bells. She heard me and she caught me looking at her, I had no chance.

"Uh, Hi. I guess you heard that. Sorry," I could feel my hand go up to my hair and a slight smirk appear on my lips, aka my Jesse is nervous/uncomfortable position.

"Pick your tongue off the floor, and let's go!" She said in such a gleeful manner that either had to be sarcasm or her trying to make me feel worse. I honestly couldn't tell but when she grabbed my hand, all thoughts went out the window. I could only concentrate on the distinctly electric touch of Sage's hand.

**Yeah, now reading thorough it again and editing, I really do like this chapter. Tell me how you feel about it by clicking on the review button. You know you want to! I'm not kidding click the damn button! 0;)**

**See Ya!**

**LostXandXLonely**


	5. Pegasus Poster Child?

**Hello Everyone! I made this chapter a bit longer and it has more detail that my past ones.... I also don't know how I feel about this chapter. Its not my favorite but its necessary for the up coming plot. I want to thank Dirigo and DMG44 for their reviews epically. they always make me smile :D. I'll say it again though: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!! just say 'nice chapter' or 'not so great' somethingto that effect and I guarantee I'll write faster! I have a couple chapters waiting so the sooner you hit the button on the bottom I'll post.**

**Before I drag on for too long here is the next chapter!**

**I don't own yugioh gx so don't hunt me down and sue me!**

Pegasus Poster Child

North Academy is about to get interesting

Chapter 5

**JPOV**

After Sage led me outside the building she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Finally I got away from that stupid escort! Thanks, I'll just be going to the dorm now and get settled in."

"Wait!" I called after her without even thinking it through. "I'm supposed to talk to and answer questions and stuff."

She barely even turned her inclined her head in my direction when she spoke.

"What do you mean by 'and stuff'?" she said putting air quotes around my words.

"Like looking through your deck and giving you suggestions?" It sounded like more of a question than a response.

"Yeah, sure. Where do you want to talk so we can get this over with?" The annoyance she felt was almost tangible in the charged air.

"Does the beach sound good? I usually go there when I need to think."

"Why not?" Sage said with a bit of a harsh mocking tone.

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To say that the beach was awesome was a bit of an understatement. The beach was mostly sand on one side and rocks on the other. Ruby and I sometimes played hide and seek on the smooth stones. Though now that I think about it, they are more like boulders. Their shades went from an almost onyx black tone to a pale cobalt blue. The rough sea always washed over these stones at high tide and left tide pools teeming with life between them at low. I always loved to see the small fish and other animals swim in them.

"Wow, Jesse. This place is sweet," Sage mentioned barely above a whisper as we sat on one of my favorite spots. I sat Indian style while Sage hugged her knees to her chest. She rested her chin on knees with her eyes closed. Her hair was blowing softly around her face. She then replaced her glasses as I spoke.

"I know. I love to come here and hang out and just be in the moment."

"So what did you want to talk about anyway? I really do want to get to my room so yeah."

Only one word came to my head but I caught myself before I said the binding word: _You._ I didn't want to make her scared of me by making a move too fast. I don't think that I ever cared so much about what someone thought of me before. "Why don't you tell me about your deck?"

"Wow. You must be the first person that doesn't know already. Its easier if I show you though." She spoke in a depressed monotone and she seemed hesitant to show me. I see the infinitesimal shaking in her hands that she tried to hide. She reached to the ice blue cardholder around her thigh and pulled out her deck and passed it over to me.

I guess everyone already read that article or ones similar but at least my suspicion that she was indeed the psychic duelist was confirmed. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears but I couldn't find a reason for her to be so upset. I glanced down at her deck and was completely shocked. Her deck had several beautifully designed cards and it already had a perfect balance between monsters, spells and traps. I mean I read the article but her deck was even better than they described. One card in particular stood out to me. It seemed to be a little rainbow colored fairy but what really stood out was the fact that it was a level 10 monster.

"How is this a level 10?" I questioned. After a felting glance at me, not the card along with a strange glow behind her glasses she spoke.

"Oh, Aurelis? She may not have a great attack or defense, but her special ability makes up for it."

"And that would be…" I said as I offered an opening.

"When she is destroyed, all damage I would have taken is given to my opponent as well as 500 points of damage for every card on the opponents field," she said as she removed her glasses and looked out to the crystal clear ocean. I could hear her sigh and her posture relaxed slightly but she seemed reserved at the same time. I had never tried to read body language so thoroughly but this was only one of the changes that had taken place in the last couple of hours.

"That," I said pointing to her card, "is a sweet card, want to trade?" I said with a smile that I hoped would make her laugh. I could help but feel sad when she looked so upset.

"Ha ha, no! She's my favorite card and my best friend! Isn't that right sweetie?"

Then all of a sudden the fairy came out of the card and sat on her shoulder. With one look at each other they broke out into a fit of giggles. I realized that this was the first time I had seen Sage truly relaxed and carefree.

"So, you can see monster spirits?" I guessed.

"Yeah, I'm assuming you can too?"

"Ruby, want to come out and play?" My favorite monster then came out and sat on her spot, my head.

"So you were spying on me, weren't you?" She accused in a joking tone.

"So that's where you went!" petting Ruby. "No, my little Ruby has a mind of her own. Though she is attracted to powerful duelists like yourself." I hoped I didn't sound too obvious complimenting her.

"Thanks for the compliment but it won't get you very far. I'm guessing you know who I am?"

"Sort of, but not really. I don't want to make any assumptions until I hear your side of the story." I really truthfully didn't because from what I could tell, she was only being profiled on her extraordinary capabilities, not her personality. I wanted to see the diamond in the rough, the imperfections of the stone, not the glittering trophy like qualities and abilities she possessed.

"Hmm, I will say that speech did earn you some credit in my book. I guess you don't realize how thoroughly I can read your mind though. I'm sorry. I shouldn't intruded," The slightest blush did seem to creep up her cheeks as she looked down at her feet. "I'll tell you my side of my past after our first duel I guess but I'm not ready quite yet. But in the meantime what deck do you duel with? Wait never mind. Hold up a couple of monster cards I think I can make a pretty accurate prediction."

I began to pull out my Sapphire Pegasus and my Amethyst Cat but by the time I had Pegasus in my hand she already seemed like she knew half my deck.

"So you're a Pegasus poster child too? Wait let me rephrase that. Is it true the story about how your crystal beast cards chose you? I hate to say it but I'm a fan already." I had a big goofy smile on my face before she said that she was a fan but as soon as she said that my face fell. I thought I had finally found someone different than the annoying fangirls but I guess not.

"Are you just going to bug me for an autograph too?"

"Are you kidding me? I found someone that hates people just as much as I do! I mean I don't mind interviews and that kind of stuff but the screaming! Seriously I don't understand why people scream but it especially sucks because I have a permanent migraine…" I let her continue on her rant but eventually I just couldn't hold back the laughs of pure joy. A few were because of her rant but mostly I was laughing at myself for even thinking about lumping someone like Sage with Kari.

"What are you laughing at?" Sage asked.

"You an-." I said without hesitation but stopped as I saw the first tear fall. I instantly regretted saying anything. Her entire body went ridged and the tears began to fall at a faster pace. If getting her to just sit and talk with me took this much effort, I didn't want to know how much work I would have to do to make this up to her. I could already feel the tension in the air. Of course she slapped me and even though I hated to admit it, the spot she hit would probably have a five star. **(AN: When someone slaps you hard enough, you can get a bruise in the shape of a hand. My friend accidentally gave me one once and they seriously hurt a lot.)**

"SHUT UP!" she screamed.

I realized I must have done something really bad for her to have this reaction but when I looked up to apologize she wasn't there. I looked down the beach to see her as she ran away from me tripping every so often. The pull from earlier came back and I couldn't help but feel like an ass.

"Great Jesse…look at what you did now." I whispered to myself. My family then freed themselves from their cards. They all began to comfort me put I pushed them away. I didn't want sympathy. All I wanted to do was find Sage and apologize. I felt like shit and the only thing I could do was wallow in my self-pity. I knew I deserved it and I got up to go to my dorm and crash. I just wanted to sleep away this nightmare and hope it disappeared. But I knew that was impossible.

I promised myself that next time I saw Sage I would not only apologize but to actually try to be her friend. All I hoped to gain from the previous conversation was more than that and look where that decision got me. I would have to leave those feelings at the beach.

I could swear that I heard a ripping noise as I walked along the coast. How fitting it was that I heard my anguish as much as I felt it. And that was that. Already on my first day I had met someone, hurt her and I ripped my own heart out. "Perfect," I said with heavy sarcasm as I walked into the blue dorm to my room. I couldn't believe that Kari wasn't here but I shrugged it off as I fell into a deep and heavy slumber as soon as I hit my bed.

**Thank you so much for reading and you know you want to hit the button on the bottom right *wink wink* **

**Until next time... See Ya!**

**LostXandXLonely**


	6. Slut Squad on the move and Author’s Note

**Thank you everyone for voting/reviewing. It means a lot to me. I will tell you now that I'm branching off my usual writing style a bit. I don't know if I should find this funny or just plain bitchy. Just put it in a review to share your opinion ^_^ .**

Slut Squad on the move/ Author's Note

Chapter 5.5

**KPOV**

**(I will never do this again; it's too painful to write)**

"Okay, girls. Now that Jesse is back our primary focus is getting him to be my boyfriend. Does everyone understand because if I get any sense that you aren't completely with me, you will be dead!" I lectured to my group. I was the undisputed queen of North Academy and I ruled the school. I was the Obelisk blue prefect, top of my class and every boy liked me, except for _him._ Jesse Anderson is _the_ boy on campus. He is super hot an amazing duelist and all around sexy. _He_ was the only guy that didn't want me and I wanted him. We were soul mates and he just wouldn't accept that.

I was pissed when the chancellor named him as our school's champion to be sent to Duel Academy. I mean obviously he is the best duelist at the school but he spent a semester away from me. I had even less time for him to realize our love for each other when he was gone. I cried everyday he was gone and now that he is back, he will be mine.** (AN: insert evil laugh here)** No one is going to stop me because no one would ever think of messing with me. The last girl that even though of something so stupid dropped out of school because she could handle my 'friends' and me.

The girl I had around me were never really my friends; they only were my pawns for me to use. They were too stupid to be suspicious of me and because they couldn't think for themselves, I could turn them into anything I wanted. This was my power as queen of the school. I could use anyone or anything to get what I want and now I wanted to get Jesse.

"Aria, go look for him while the rest of you help me with my hair." The idiots dispersed and carried out their assigned tasks. I loved ordering people around and they we just so willing, how could I not?

After I was looking fabulous in my uniform, custom made of course, and my hair was perfect I went to look for my kill. The most logical place to look would be at the dock where all the other transfers would be. I always loved getting fresh meat into this place because it just meant more pawns for me to collect.

We waited for a while there and I began to get pissed at whoever I told to look for him. I mean I'm Kari Price, the Kari Price! I wait for no one! Then I saw Ari or Aria or someone with a name like that and they were running to me.

"Finally someone is doing something! Where is he!" I screamed at her because she deserved it for her stupidity.

"He's, like, coming from the field." At last I got some answers from these idiots.

"Lets get ready everyone. Gosh, you guys can be so stupid!"

Then I saw him. He was gorgeous as always with his spiky teal hair, lavender undershirt with his cute frilly sleeves. I could feel him wanting me just by the way he looked at me but he was about to run right by me, Kari Price!

"Heyyyy Jesse! See girls! I told you he was looking for me! What do you want to do tonight Jess? I was thinking a movie in my room and maybe a make out sesh? You know how much I love it when you…." He wasn't listening to me! How could anyone not listen to me, the nerve of it all!

Then because Jesse was distracted my alluring beauty he wasn't paying attention and a stupid freshman ran into him. I would have to talk to the squirt later to talk some sense into her. Why was he staring at her! Why wasn't he staring at me! That girl is going down! Freshman-1 Kari-0.

"Mimi, follow her and let her see you! Siena and Kristel, follow me and keep up. Damn it!" I was pissed, royally pissed. I then had Siena trail Jesse and Kristel, the only smart pawn I had, was trying to hack into Jesse's PDA to use as a tracing item.

"I have him! He's heading towards the beach!" Kristel said. Thank god I had someone that could get things done!

We could see him from a far but he wasn't alone. That stupid frosh from earlier was following him around and bothering my Jesse! How dare she! We stationed ourselves on top of the cliff to observe him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All they did was sit down and talk. It was mega boring. Then my Jesse's golden laughter echoed up to the top of the cliff. Finally something was happening! The girl ran from Jesse and it looked like he had rejected her from how she was wailing and his beautiful laughter! Freshman-1 Kari-1. Ha-ha! I'm brilliant.

I decided there and then that the girl was going down and that was sub-mission number 1. Finally now that Jesse is back, life will be amusing!

**I seriously want to puke after writing this. I hate Kari but I had to put this filler into the story sometime and I though this would be a good time. Uhhh…. That was painful to write. I'm actually really glad that I changed Alexis back to Kari. I would have gotten so many flames for this. And to give you guys something less painful to read, here is my master color guide for Sage's Aura reading.**

******Important: this is subject to change at anytime and in general, more negative aspects are darker in tone while positive aspects are lighter********

**Red: love, passion desire, anger, hate, cunning, embarrassment, arrogance, joy, frustration**

**Orange: fun, intellect (street smarts), curiosity, confusion, hunger (literally), change, health (physical)**

**Yellow: concern, friendliness, sweetness, compassion, cowardice, deceit, hope, peace, inactivity**

**Green: envy, pain, defensiveness, hope, protection (of one's self), growth, inexperience, renewal, health (mental), fear**

**Blue: sadness, depression, grievance, numbness, calmness, sincerity, stability, serenity, intelligence (book smart), unity**

**Purple: ownership, protection (of another), possessiveness, confidence, power, creativity, bravery, determination, arrogance, presumptuousness**

**White: purity, clarity, cleansing, healing, benevolence**

**Gray: balance, formality, strength, mysteriousness, evenhandedness, equality**

**Pink: femininity, delicateness, innocent romantic feelings, playfulness, tenderness, sentimental feelings, generosity, oversensitivity**

**Brown: balance, wholesomeness, simplicity, steadfastness, ****dependability**

**Black: hatred, anger, malicious thoughts or desires, shame, formality, mysteriousness, impurity**

**New: Thanks Azul Angel! Aqua-Hope, Excitement, Gratitude, Shyness, Happiness and Bubbly  
**

**Thanks for reading and I will also take any requests for adding an aspect or a color that you think is missing. Just put them in your review and if I like them, I'll add it. Thanks again for reading and I hope you guys find Kari a bit more bitchy and stupid after this. Thanks again.**

**See Ya!**


	7. Best Friends, Bitches, and Puzzles

**Hello people! Here's chapter six so get excited! I know I am :). I'm hoping everyone isn't up in arms about the next character I'm adding. I needed to make this more of a GX fic so I took someone from DA and brought them to North Academy. It makes sense so don't worry. If people are still confused about why Sage flipped out after chapter 5 hopefully this will give you some more insight. If you still don't understand maybe review and I'll pm you back... *obvious wink*.**

**I don't own yugioh gx and please don't sue me or shoot me!**

**Now on with it!**

Best Friends, Bitches, and Puzzles

**SPOV**

How could he say that to me? Why did he say it? Am I so much of a freak that laughing at me was a normal reaction? First at home with my 'friends', then my parents and now him!

"I can't take it any more!" I sobbed. I managed to stumble without falling to a shady tree over the closest cliff. I let my mind take over and meditate. I could feel the eyes want to take over. I had never been this angry before. I could feel everything around me mirroring my emotions. The relentless wind whipped around my face as the tides below me seemed to get rougher. I thought of everything that happened to me recently, how much I want to blend it and just be anonymous. It looks like the auras around me in nature were giving me just that. My anger was the same anger that the wind and the water felt.

I felt my mind dream of a place where I was free of my stupid gift, where I was normal. I was okay with being myself there. I metaphorically dropped my mask and stepped into the sunlight that I couldn't feel usually because of the walls I put up. I didn't have to be tough and constantly protect myself from everyone calling me a freak in my dream. For a split second I decided I could make that a reality if I just tried. "Yeah right, I'm glow girl," I whispered to myself letting my last idea drift away. "I'm never going to be free."

I picked myself up and ambled to my dorm. I wandered through the gardens a bit and found a butterfly on a tree. It was the first one out of its cocoon. 'Its just like me' ran through my mind and I felt a small smile creep to my lips. I always was more mature than the rest of my grade at home. I was also a loner and I'm still trying to find my niche in the world just like this butterfly.

I also stopped to look at myself in the water of one of the fountains, but I regretted it almost instantly. I went straight to the things I hated about myself: my nose, my hands and my eyes, the eyes. I refused to concede that they were mine. My eyes were a emerald or a mossy green color, not a white glowing abnormality.

Once I got inside the dorm I had to admit that it was beautiful, though too gaudy for my taste. Several groups of friends were congregated in the common room down stairs. A duel was on TV and a loud debate between some boys was echoing around the room. I decided not to introduce myself. I figured that everyone would know me soon enough.

The group that stuck out the most though was a group of four girls that had boys waiting on their every whim. The bleached blonde must have been the most obnoxious as well as the leader. I heard her scream over something like having three seeds in her lemon wedge and that she still had twigs in her hair. Oh well, they must be the populars that I shouldn't mess with. I decided not to tell her off to at least put off the unavoidable target on my back.

My room though was already proving to be my solace. I didn't have a roommate, a concept that thrilled me and I had the best view of the ocean from my balcony. Yeah, I have a balcony attached to my room, which I can't decide if it's really cool or really weird. I looked through my bags for my comfort item, my fingerless gloves. Not only did they give me an extra confidence boost, they are my good luck charm. I only wear them during my duels and special occasions but they always gave me the luck I needed. And right now I definitely needed some good vibes. I decided to keep them in my pocket just incase. Even though they can't fix anything, they do help me but I guess not this time.

Soon I could feel the tears beginning to cloud my eyes, which I let out because I was alone. I hated feeling weak and vulnerable. When you live in a world of thoughts, dreams, emotions, and aura you would understand how I feel. I'm forced to wall my mind from it all so I'm not constantly having mood swings. If I didn't I would just be a sponge to any aura that passed near me. Having a wall was the only way to maintain control. In turn, I never really feel anything completely because I am always numbing and removing myself from everyone. This was a good exchange in my mind but one of my greatest fears is that I'll never be fully happy again. I could always feel small glimpses of the elusive emotion but it was never totally available to me. I know I wasn't happy just from observing people's minds but I wish I could will it away, like a bad dream. Eventually the hostile darkness of sleep took over my mind.

XXXXX~ ~XXXXX

"First day of classes, Oh joy!" I mumbled when my stupid annoying alarm woke me up. I didn't have any dreams last night only terrible nightmare. I wasn't feeling better than last night, maybe worse if that was possible, and I was desperate to change that. Feeling the filth clinging to me, I decide that was a good place to start. I hastily took a shower, threw on my uniform, and rushed down the stairs to the dining hall to grab something to eat. I settled on cereal and began pouring the milk when I felt someone push me. I turned around to see Miss Obnoxiousness from last night, with all of her minions.

"Your new so I'll let it slide this time but you're in my seat. Get out now or you'll regret It.," she hissed at me with an undertone of arrogance. Of course the whispering began when I didn't get up and ignored her. I could hear the name 'Kari' being said a lot in the hushed mumbles.

"Bitch, get out of her seat," the redhead behind the leader spat at me.

"I don't see anyone's name on this seat. I guess you'll need to put your tons of makeup on earlier to get this seat." I said a coolly as possible not bothering to turn around again. I've dealt with people like her before and she just wasn't worth it.

The whispers died suddenly after I made my comeback. Instead shocked expressions took command of most of the faces near me.

"Don't mess with me if you want to make it here loser," the blonde said in malicious singsong into my ear.

"I'll be fine without your help. Your hair needs your love more than me," I replied curtly.

I could hear her curse me out as she and her minions left the scene. Suddenly someone sat down and I looked up to see who it was. It was girl that looked to be about my age. Her long black and amber eyes were as shocking as they were beautiful. Her uniform stuck out in a crowd though because she was a Slifer in a sea of Obelisk. She smiled politely and then filled me in about the blonde and her henchmen.

"That's Kari and the slut squad. She owns the school. No one has stood up to her like that before; it looks like hell is about to freeze over for her. I'm Blair by the way. I transferred here for the semester but I haven't seen you here yet…are you new?"

"I'm Sage and yeah I'm new. Seriously no one has told her off? I guess that it's my job now as the new girl with guts to shove it in her face," I said with a big smirk on my face.

We continued to talk about our lives and other Kari happenings. I could really relate to her and it seemed to be a fast friendship forming. From observation I could tell we had a bond and that we were similar. We kept talking until we had to separate for our classes. We did have fourth period and lunch together but because of my dueling history I was taking advanced classes with mostly third years.

Before separating Blair was nice enough to show me where most of my classes were. I knew I was going to have a difficult time navigating the school both geographically and socially and it was nice to know I would have at least one ally. I them switched into teacher's pet mode as I entered the crowed lecture hall for my first class.

I went to introduce myself to my teacher, Mrs. Novak. She looked like she was in her late thirties and extremely nice. When I introduced myself she pointed me to a seat in the fourth row of the crowded room, welcomed me to her class and handed me a syllabus that read Advanced Magic Card Theory at the top. I was glad that she didn't make me introduce myself to the class. I can duel well in front of people, don't get me wrong, but there is something about being in front of people without hiding behind my cards and my moves.

The class wasn't painfully boring, but it was dull. The class was beginning to go over field spell cards and their effects. I knew most of the fields mentioned but I couple were new to me. I was glad that I would have something to learn here so I would totally be bored during the day.

My next class started out the same as the first and I recognized a few people from my first class and the redhead from this morning. I found out that her name was Aria and that she was incredibly, for lack of a better word, dumb. She couldn't even pronounce 'Doppelganger.' I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. That thought disappeared though when I left the room. I honestly cringed at bit at the hateful look she was giving me.

As I was rushing to my third class across campus, I wasn't paying attention. I rounded a corner quickly and I ran into someone. My bag spilled everywhere and I let out a sigh as I began to pick up my scattered belongings. I was handed several of my books and I thanked and apologized to the other person several times.

"We need to stop meeting like this Sage." I could feel my face drain of all its color when I heard _his_ voice. I looked up to meet his emerald eyes. He looked so remorseful that I couldn't help up compare him to a sad puppy. 'Stop it Sage. Get a grip. Remember what he did to you. Don't you dare forget.' I said in my head.

"Thanks Jesse but I don't need you to laugh and lecture me again," I said in an icy voice as I continued to walk down the hall. I felt his hand grab my arm and he spun me around to look at him.

"Wait please. I want to apologize for yesterday. I was a jerk and I shouldn't have laughed at you like that. Can you forgive me?" I briefly checked his aura, which had a prominent turquoise-ish tone indicating sincerity and hope. I couldn't help but forgive him as soon as I saw his eyes. They were so sincere that I almost completely forgot about the world around us. I had to fully break the hypnotic power to form a coherent sentence.

"On one condition: duel me." I might as well get everything out of this that I can.

"Deal. And thanks Sage." He looked so relieved when I forgave him almost like his aura wasn't telling the full story or that I misread some of the tones. This not only sparked a new interest in me but I couldn't help but be attracted to a challenge.

"For what?" I asked feigning confusion just so I could hear his conscious reasoning.

"Forgiving me easily. And what do you say to oh, four-ish in front of the blue dorm?"

"Deal." I said as I waved to him walking away to the class that I was already late for feeling smug in my own right. I just found a brilliant puzzle to solve and it was all too easy to do it.

**Thanks for reading and please please review! I have the next chapter done and it is really sweet, but a bit freaky. I can wait to see your reactions to it so once I get a couple of reviews I'm more than willing to post it ;)**

**See Ya!**


	8. Who knew glowing caused so much panic?

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay... Lots of stupid homework. I have two tests tomorrow so its honestly a miracle that I could find time to post. **

**I really don't know how to feel about this chapter. Its pretty dark and really scary. The characters kind of took over and it flowed really well so I kept it. The ending isn't nearly as dark as it sounds, believe me I don't want to write such a dark story quite yet. I'm hoping you guys will like it but I would totally understand if you guys didn't. So on with the chapter!**

Who knew glowing caused so much panic?

North Academy is about to get interesting

**SPOV**

I didn't really care who saw me on the way to my class. I was so lost already that I had absolutely no other options other that to use my gift. People were going to see it next period inevitability. My next class was a critique class so I looked for purple, green, red, and a bit of blue mixed in with a bunch of monster spirits of course. I wandered with my eyes a bit looking through all the classrooms until I found the right mix and Blair's mostly pink aura indicating the correct classroom. I couldn't wait to see her and I was glad to have someone I knew in a class.

I ran as fast as I could safely until I got to the outside dueling grounds. It looked similar to a bunch of outdoor basketball courts without the hoops obviously. One side was painted a bright red and the other was a deep royal blue color with clean white lines. I looked around to see who was in my class, and I was mostly pissed. I saw Blair, which was amazing, but at least three people from the slut squad were here, including Kari. I internally groaned until I saw Ruby Carbuncle here. My eyes got wide and I seriously though I might puke. Jesse was in this class and I was either going to die of embarrassment or I was going to get ripped apart by Kari, both of which were not exactly fun in my book.

When I surveyed the people a range of expressions were on peoples' faces. Some looks were ones of pure hatred that mainly belonged to the slut squad. Most though were ones of indifference. I was glad that they couldn't care whether I was here or not and that they still had not figured out who I was. But then I was his face. It appeared to be strained, forced even. I didn't understand why Jesse could hate me so much after only knowing me for what, twenty-four hours? His feelings for me appeared to be on a yo-yo, going from attachment to annoyance to slightly romantic feelings to just being plain uncomfortable around me. To say the least I am thoroughly confused by teenage boys, especially Jesse.

"Hi, I'm Sage Arone. I'm new here and I got lost on the way here. I'm sorry," I said to the teacher as I looked down at my feet in an effort to hide my rising blush.

"Don't worry about it. I was just going over the basic school rules but with your status you'll be able to figure them out. My name is Dr. Kemp Smith and welcome to our class. Would you like to observe or duel today?" the professor said with a voice that hinted at concern.

When I looked up I was immediately taken aback by pure fear. He was muscular to say the least but he was easily two feet taller than me. His hair was a midnight black and pulled into a braid in the back. A thick yellow headband wrapped around his forehead and leather bands on his biceps. His entire outfit indicated that he was a professor from the Ra Yellow dorm and if it weren't for his goofy smile I would have though he was going to full on crush me. **(AN: for his hair think of Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist with a bright yellow headband and black hair)**

"I think I'll watch today if you don't mind," I said as the relief washed over me. I might actually be able to postpone my humiliation so that it wasn't in front of Kari, at least for the first time.

I sat down next to Blair who had a big smile on her face and began to watch one of the matches going on. A Ra girl was getting her butt kicked by a Slifer Red boy. To me, the ranks meant nothing other than a way to identify people. I personally could point out a few people that were either over or under ranked. I watched as their life points steadily moved down to zero. I put on my sunglasses so I could get some more insight into the duelists' minds, as well as their cards.

The Ra girl had the perfect combo with her Umi card that would make her win but she didn't play it. Instead she brought back a penguin solider card from her grave, using monster reborn, and destroyed the boy's Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and Gladiator Beast Bestiari opening up the field for a direct attack. Unfortunately the boy's face down changed that. Mirror force activated and her life points went down to zero. Her aura purple aura was so blue tinted that I almost couldn't keep mine from going to the same color. At least she was fully committed to her deck and her duels. It was almost heartbreaking and I knew if I didn't as much practice walling others as I did now, I would be bawling too.

I couldn't help but notice Jesse's heavy presence behind me. I couldn't be obliged to deal with him right now. So when he said something about the duel in my general direction I just ignored him. The only thing he can be called is conflicting and I just have too much to deal with now.

Then it was time for critique of this duel. Some boy that wasn't paying attention praised his Slifer friend to no end and didn't even say one thing about the cards. A slut squad girl didn't say anything nice about either one of them and just said that she could beat either one. Blair actually gave some good critique on the beginning of the duel and then it was my turn.

"Next time try sacrificing your mermaid knight on the field to summon the Levia-Dragon – Daedalus in your hand. Then tribute your Umi card to destroy all the monsters on his field. Your monster would have had enough Attack points to lower his life points to zero and you would have won," I said without thinking twice. I realized then that no one else but the Ra girl should have know what cards she had in her hand.

I could feel the stares boring into my head and I knew then and there people could figure out who and what I was. I wish I had the power to control time because I wish I could have been a regular person for more than twenty-four hours. I turned my head slightly to see a dumbstruck Blair next to me. From what I could sense without my eyes glowing was the same expression on everyone's faces.

"How the hell could you see that? How did you know what my cards were?" the Ra girl asked first.

I decided that I might as well tell/show everyone who and what I was before people started to get panic attacks or worse, come up with their own theories. I took a deep breath, removed my glasses and turned to face most of my classmates. Their faces ranged from dumbstruck to angry to mildly bored (Kari). I let my eyes cross over and glow a bright white. Green tints instantly commanded the group of students but I could feel a strong black aura with an undercurrent of green. I few people even took a step back and a couple had the nerve to pull out cameras. Great, now I have to do damage control. I always hated when people made things more difficult than they needed to be.

"Put the cameras down! If I find one picture, you're dead! I am Sage Arone the true psychic duelist. I have the gift of aura reading. I can read minds, sense people's emotions and I'm a pro duelist. Back off or we're going to have problems." I decided to give a bit of a show. When people fear you, they don't mess with you. I didn't want any problems and if fear was a reliable method, so be it. I wish I didn't have to do it this way but I didn't really have a choice. My life at North Academy was already shattered and there is nothing I can do about it.

Everyone backed away from me then except Blair. I couldn't understand why her aura was more of a yellow green but I could not care. She was the first person that even had friendship cross her mind after I told people what I was. I could tell that Blair honestly cared about me and we were going to be real friends.

I could feel myself begin to cry with all the emotions stirring in my mind. I had just shown people what I was and they were scared. People were honestly scared of me and I just felt like I deserved to have people hate me. Almost like I was too broken to be liked. It was too much for me to bear and I collapsed. I could feel myself being caught by not one but two people. The last thing I saw was two fully yellow auras looking at me before I fainted.

XXXXX~/O\~XXXXX

When I woke up, it felt like my mind was detached from my body. The room I was in was just a bright white blurry haze. I could see Jesse with his face in his hands and Blair screaming at him about something. Her arms were up in the air and her face was a bright red. Everything was so blurry and I couldn't make out what they were saying exactly.

"Tell…stupid…like her. Damn it!" and other streams of disjointed sounds came from both of them. I was way too out of it to even try to keep up with the conversation. I must have been given some morphine or something because I just screamed at both of them. I barely remembered screaming after I did so. The both looked at me like I was insane but then their expressions changed.

Jesse looked manic while Blair just looked relieved. She came to sit by me and run her fingers through my tangled hair. Some feeling had come back to me and Blair's finger just felt soothing and my eyelids began to flutter. Keeping consciousness was really hard with her doing that so I pushed her away. I couldn't go back to sleep like that and keep my dignity so I forced myself awake.

"Sage, can you hear me?" Blair asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, what the hell happened? Why is he here? Did I faint? Crap, I feel terrible." I said in a dry cracked voice.

"What I'm about to tell you isn't going to be music to your ears. Can you handle it?" I nodded and she continued, "After you told the class off and stopped floating, you fainted. Jesse and I caught you and we brought you back to the nurse's office as fast as we can. When we got here though you started flailing and freaking out. Nurse Jacey had to sedate you to even get you into a bed. You started mumbling a lot of stuff in your sleep and not all of it is stuff you probably wanted us to know so we'll try to ignore it until we hear it from you but we seriously need to talk to you," Blair said in a rush and a few tears came out of her eyes. If I talked about what I've done in my sleep I was actually done for. Then people wouldn't talk to me and I would be an even bigger freak. I wished that didn't do some of those things but back then I didn't have my wall. I had only done those things to escape falling into the vortex of my sight but it wasn't that simple.

"What did I talk about Blair? Should Jesse hear this or not? Did the nurse hear me?" I asked my voice half pleading and half dead monotone.

"He needs to be here. You said some stuff about him that we need to talk about too. The nurse didn't hear but I'm not sure if I should tell her what you said. I hate to say this but I'm sacred for you Sage," a few more tears leaking from my friend's eyes. All I wanted to say was don't be but I couldn't honestly say that. I knew what I did was wrong but sometimes I could help it. I came to North Academy to get away from it but I guess that isn't possible. My past haunted me wherever I went and there was nothing I could do about _it._

"What should I start with?" I asked not nervous because I already knew what their reaction would be and what they would want to hear about.

"The knife Sage, tell us about the knife." Jesse whispered to me grabbing my other hand and stroking my face.

**Like I said before, its totally not as dark as it sounds and all will be revealed in the next chapter so don't fret! The big duel will be not next chapter but the one after that. I need some more time to design Sage's deck so thats the only thing holding me back. Review and I will write! Thanks again.**

**See Ya!**


	9. Confessions and Notes

**I hope you guys are excited for this because I know I am! I'm aware I'm posting early in the morning on a Sunday but I haven't fallen asleep yet (insomnia may be great for writing, but not so much for my ADHDness (yes I do have ADHD) :P) and I just finished editing this chapter so why not! I love love love this chapter and I'm kind of obsessively writing this so I might need to put one more chapter in before the duel. If I don't, the next chapter will be a solid 6000-10000 words. I know thats a wide range but for serious, I've written the next chapter up to like 2000 words already and I'm not even close to when their going to start to duel. I know I'm really prolonging this but hopefully you guys will be able to figure out my previous foreshadowing (chapter 6 hint hint, in the garden, hint hint!). Wow, that was obvious. Any ways on with it!**

Confessions and Notes

North Academy is about to get interesting

**JPOV**

Running into Sage in the hall was one of the single hardest experiences for me. I couldn't not be attracted to her but I knew she didn't want me to like her. I had to stuff my feelings down for her. How was I so attracted to her already? Even I questioned my sanity for it. I ran for the office to drop off the attendance and I could help but let Sage take over my mind.

I though of everything and anything that reminded me of Sage. Her eyes, both the emerald and white glowing ones, her face, her lips her sarcasm and her laugh. I though of my dream last night and only felt my cheeks become more flushed. It must have been the single best dream ever. Sage kissed me in the dream and to say the least it was incredible.

I cursed myself for even allowing myself to think about that. I needed to give her up or I would loose her completely. She didn't like me and she didn't want to be my friend probably after what I had said to her yesterday. At least forgiving me was a step and our duel would be another one.

On the return trip I let myself decide my specific deck for our duel. I wasn't sure what her cards were or how to counter them so I was going to have to go all out on her. I wasn't going to hold back and I was going to beat her. Who am I kidding? She'll know my moves before I even make them or think about them. This will be my toughest challenge yet and I already knew I was going to fail. Might as well go into it with a positive attitude and with that, I could feel a smile creep up my lips. With that Ruby suddenly appeared and ran off back to class. I guessed she wanted to watch the duel and thought nothing of it.

I got back to class just in time to see the end of the duel and take the seat behind Sage who was sitting next to Blair. I remembered helping to save her last semester while we were in the other dimension with the duel ghouls. 'Good times, good times,' I thought to myself while a smirk appeared on my lips.

People not paying attention gave a couple of reviews on the last duel and I chose to ignore them. I didn't want to get people mad at me for not agreeing with them. Blair gave a review that made sense and I sighed, relieved that at least one person was paying attention.

Then Sage spoke and I didn't know how to react. Her review was not only an amazing strategy but it was perfect. The one problem was that she talked about cards in the girl's hand. I didn't think she would want anyone to know about her aura stuff but the blush on her face confirmed that.

Instantly the chaos began. The girl that was dueling freaked out and Kari's stupid friends took out their cameras and started taking pictures of Sage glowing. I didn't know whether to be freaked out or completely awestruck. I had never seen her actually levitate before. She was a good foot off the ground and wind was blowing around her in furious gusts. I didn't think that cobalt eagle could even make wind that strong. Then Sage spoke and everyone else in the class backed away.

"Put the cameras down! If I find one picture, you're dead! I am Sage Arone the true psychic duelist. I have the gift of aura reading. I can read minds, sense people's emotions and I'm a pro duelist. Back off or we're going to have problems," Sage said with an expression that made her seem like she actually wanted to hurt someone. I was honestly afraid of her but I was more concerned than anything.

Soon her glowing stopped and the wind died down. She was about to fall and both Blair and I caught her. We needed to get her to the nurse now before something worse happened. Blair helped me get Sage on my back and we ran to the nurse. On the way she started to shake and cry. I had never seen someone look so broken.

The shaking got worse as we got into the office. She wouldn't stay on the bed so the nurse had to drug her to make sure she was okay. Aurelis came out and sat near her head and tried to comfort her partner. I held Sage's hand until she stopped moving. Blair was sitting on the chair in the room crying. I didn't really know what to do and just kind of sat there awkwardly.

"Did you know Sage could do this?" Blair asked in a hushed voice.

"Kind of, but I didn't know that her powers were so strong. I'm her mentor so we talked yesterday but she never mentioned that she could float and control wind. I'm really scared Blair."

"Why? I mean, I've never seen you care about anyone this much, not even Jaden. What happened between you. I mean were became fast friends at breakfast this morning and she's totally nice but I'm so confused."

"I don't really know. We just kind of connected like I did with Jaden, but way stronger. I can't stop thinking about her." I admitted to Blair. I really didn't know what was up between us and I was really confused but it felt right. Almost like it was meant to be.

"Stop it. Stop it! I can't NO! NO please no! The knife stop the knife! I don't want to burn anymore. Help me. Help me." Sage screamed in her sleep. Despite the medication she was tossing and turning in her bed. Tears began to stream down her face as she kept repeating similar things, until she talked about me.

"Jesse help me! Please Jesse, I need you! Help me stop, I don't want it to burn. Please help me. I need you. I want you to help me. Please, I want you," Sage whispered as she clutched my hand tighter. I could speak because I was so stunned. I could believe that she wanted me around. I did the only thing I knew how to do, I held Sage while she slept. Eventually her breathing evened out. She stopped tossing and turning and she lay still.

I looked over my shoulder and I saw Blair, with her mouth hanging open. I look of complete shock crossed her face. Hesitantly she walked over the bed and sat down lightly. I could tell she was more than shaken up. Her eyes were flat and her lips were trembling. Suddenly Sage began to stir in my arms and I could feel the sharp nails dragging down my arms while she muttered something. The lines she left were not enough to break the skin but they hurt. I had to get away before I woke her.

I stumbled to the chair in the corner and clutched my arm to my body to try to lessen the pain. I wasn't just dealing with the physical pain I felt the rejection. She hurt me and I couldn't tell if it was because she didn't like me or if it was just part of her dream. I didn't want to be away from her and if she scratched me on purpose I needed to get going now. I put my face in my hands and just let the tears go. The barrier was gone and the pain was immeasurable. And then I heard her voice.

"Yeah, what the hell happened? Why is he here? Did I faint? Crap, I feel terrible." She doesn't want me here. I need to go but I want to know why she hates me.

"What I'm about to tell you isn't going to be music to your ears. Can you handle it?" I nodded and she continued, "After you told the class off and stopped floating, you fainted. Jesse and I caught you and we brought you back to the nurse's office as fast as we can. When we got here though you started flailing and freaking out. Nurse Jacey had to sedate you to even get you into a bed. You started mumbling a lot of stuff in your sleep and not all of it is stuff you probably wanted us to know so we'll try to ignore it until we hear it from you but we seriously need to talk to you," Blair said hastily. She was just as nervous as I was but she wasn't paralyzed like me. She had the courage to talk to Sage unlike me. I was a coward.

"What did I talk about Blair? Should Jesse hear this or not? Did the nurse hear me?" Panic was all that was evident to me and all I wanted to do was take it away. The part of me that wanted to runaway was shrinking and I could feel my self regain some feeling.

"He needs to be here. You said some stuff about him that we need to talk about too. The nurse didn't hear but I'm not sure if I should tell her what you said. I hate to say this but I'm sacred for you Sage," Blair said slightly above a whisper.

"What should I start with?" I couldn't take it any more so I just followed my instincts and they told me to act, not sit.

"The knife Sage, tell us about the knife." I said in the most compassionate voice I had as I held her hand. She seemed so weak at that moment and I was worried beyond belief. Would she reject me or would she want me? It was now or never and I needed to know.

"I cant… I won't," she whispered to me.

I'm here for you. Whenever you need me, I'll be here. If you don't want to tell me its okay but I'll be here when you want to or need to talk." I said slightly hurt. I knew she didn't trust me. Why would she trust me? All I ever did was hurt her and here I am, expecting her to open up to me. God, I'm such and idiot.

"I want to but… you'll hate me. You will think I'm insane and weak. I don't want that, Jesse. I want to be strong. I want to be whole," she breathed into my ear, which she pulled down to her face. That was when the rest of the world ceased to exist. Nothing else mattered in that moment to me but helping Sage. I didn't know what this feeling was but it was consuming.

"I won't Sage. I can't Sage. I could never hate you. I just want to help you. I just want to be here for you always. I'll be here," I had never said anything that was more truthful in my life. I had just laid my heart on the table and I needed to see how she would react.

She pulled herself to me. She pulled me on to the bed and she just cried as I held her in my arms. It felt like every nerve was on fire for me. I was so happy in that single moment. My world was complete if I held her in my arms. _Love, _I had never felt something like this before and I was scared. I love Sage. Was it even possible? I had known her for two days and I was already so attached to her. I didn't want to scare her off so I kept it to myself. I'll tell her eventually but right now I needed to focus on how to help Sage heal. I hated myself for being so selfish. I wan thinking about myself when Sage needed me more.

"It was… painful. I didn't even really heal from it. I was never the same after they brought me to be 'tested'. It felt like they were burning me. T-to monitor my m-mind; they had to, I don't even really know. They put me to s-sleep or they tried to, but my mind resisted. It burned. I can still feel the knife sometimes. The eyes, they changed my eyes. They gave me new ones. Stronger ones. They didn't want to help me; they wanted to use me. My mom gave me to them to be trained. They wanted me to be some kind of," she hesitated and I was frozen. I didn't know how to react. I could feel the pain, Sage, my Sage was hurt and I couldn't help her, "weapon," she whispered. I wrapped her tighter in my arms and she hugged me back. I let a few tears leak out but held the rest in. She needed me to be strong and I would do anything to help her. And before I could restraint myself I placed my lips to the top of her head. I didn't know how she would react but it felt right. I was blindly following my instincts and it was working so far.

"You need to sleep. I'll stay, if you want me, but you need to take care of your mind. I don't want you to hurt tomorrow. I'll be here to protect you if you want me to," I knew it was the wrong thing to say but she looked so tired and so broken. My overprotective side was praising be but the rest of my mind was screaming at me to stop. And I heard Sage laugh.

"What's so funny?" I asked her glowing eyes.

"Your aura, its better than a soap opera. Your pinkish purple side is attacking your crimson half and its just funny because of the reasons. I do want you to stay and I do want to be protected but don't argue with yourself. It's making my headache even worse." I knew I could always count on her to lighten the mood.

I got up to turn off the light and saw that Blair had left, but not without giving my something else to think about. I picked up the crumpled piece of paper next to my PDA.

_Have fun lovebirds and Jesse tell Sage that I hope she gets better and that she's giving me the details later. Sleep well and I'll tell the dorm advisor that you're with Sage. ~Blair_

"Goodnight, Sage," I said. I couldn't help but keep the smile off my face as I held Sage close to me and I began to hum my favorite song. I could feel her clenched body begin to relax and I could hear her breathing even out.

"We're still dueling tomorrow. Don't forget it." she sighed as her body fell into the depths of sleep. It was always like her to keep fighting.

I could feel sleep beginning to overcome me and as the image of Sage smiling against me was burned into my mind.

**YAY!!!! I just made myself smile by writing that! Let me know what you think! Oh yeah and to restraint myself from posting every three days, I'm not going to post until I get three review for each chapter. I'm hoping thats not too much to ask for considering thats pretty much the average. But yeah, thanks for reading! **

**Oh and everyone should be worshiping the ground DMG44 walks on right now. She is literally one of the more amazing people I have come into contact with in life. She is helping me out with Sage's deck so pretty much as soon as thats done (and I send one really really long thank you note to her), production will be a lot faster!**

**Thanks and See Ya!**


	10. Bets and something more

**Hello everyone! Sorry that I've been a bit M.I.A. this week, school sucks sometimes... Anyways I have been working on something related to the story this week so check out my profile if you want to see a preview of Sage's deck! I seriously worked so hard on that so please, don't flame them. **

**I absolutely love this chapter and I mean love! I won't spoil the surprise for you here but read to find out so on with it!**

Bets and something more

**SPOV**

When I woke up there was a bright light streaming across my face. The sunlight felt…warm. I could not remember the last time I actually felt, well anything positive. The warmth radiated through out my body and I could feel everywhere. I also felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around me in a vice grip and his warm breath softly blowing in my hair. I could feel my heart sputter for a moment and I turned around slowly so I could see his face.

Every line of his face was smooth and relaxed in his sleep. His full lips were slightly parted and his teal hair was jutting off in every direction. He was still wearing the same clothes as last night, which were slightly wrinkled. The realization that he had not left me was enough to make my heart start to beat faster but when his eyelids started to flutter open I couldn't help but start hyperventilating. I was scared that he would leave me after he had heard about my mutant eyes but if anything he liked me even more last night. I had seen his aura last night but I still could not believe that he still wanted to be with me even after all I had put him through.

"Good morning, how are ya'll feeling?" he said with his eyes half open.

"Okay, I guess. I'm scared of how everyone will look at me when I get out of here. They will be afraid of me. I don't want that. Why did I have to scare them again? But I also feel safe around you which helps," I said adverting my eyes down. I couldn't gaze into his sparkling eyes without feeling guilty. I didn't want him to feel like he had to take care of me.

"I'll stay with you. No one will even try to hurt you with me around. I swear, if anyone even thinks about laying a finger on you they'll have to answer to my deck. Do ya need anything right now?" I almost cried when he said that. No one had ever wanted to take care of me before. I had always been by myself after my eyes started freaking out. I had never gotten help with anything after that and I never really knew how to get help before then. It scared me to rely on anyone and I just couldn't start now. I couldn't be a leech to Jesse after all he has done for me.

"I can take care of myself but I have a feeling that you'll be needing your deck in an hour," I said in a sarcastic tone. I always used sarcasm to diffuse situations that were awkward and lately, I was feeling really awkward a lot. I wanted that duel with him now. I wanted to see what it would be like to duel him and how he would react to my deck. I'm really worried that he'll hate my cards and that he'll hate me afterwards. My deck was my heart and soul, and if he hated my cards, he has to hate me.

It is one of a kind deck. No one else had several of my cards because I designed them. I could still remember what it was like staying up late designing my monsters and how they would work. I had to say that my ace card though was the hardest to design. I had spent countless hours drawing and painting the same spirit over and over again until she was perfect. I had only summoned her a couple of times because the conditions had to be perfect but it was totally worth it. She was beautiful on the field and I was hoping I could summon Reginona today. She could even give Rainbow dragon a run for its money.

"And why would that be Ms. Arone? Are you suggesting that we duel in an hour?" I pushed him hard and we both laughed. "Are you sure? I really don't want to hurt you." Once he said that I flipped out and reacted. Him hurt me or beat me? That would be the day!

"You hurting me isn't an issue. I would worry about you more than me. I can pack a beating pretty quickly. I guess that you forget that my eyes are more than just eyes and you'll never be able to surprise me," I said with my eyes downcast. I hated everything to do with my eyes. I hated being a mutant freak and that I never really be able to be 'normal.'

"I guess that we'll see how fast ya'll will loose. I've almost never been beaten and I usually go on instinct. Reading my mind might not help you much. We can also make this more interesting if ya want to, a bet maybe?" Jesse said in his cute southern drawl. **(AN: Again I ask why does Jesse have a southern accent in the dub? Why? I'm just going with it but I might stop because it's really annoying to write)** I pushed him away slightly but I smirked slightly to let him know I was joking. He laughed and raised his arms to stop his to try to stop me from tackling him but I noticed some scratches on his arms. I instantly lowered my arms and my mouth fell open.

"What happened? How did you get those scratches? Are you okay?" I could think that he hurt himself, could I? I was so petrified then, I could feel my hands start to shake and my eyes become wetter.

"Oh, these scratches? You kind scratched me when you were asleep but don't feel guilty though. I really don't care, please don't be sad," he said while he wrapped his arms around me. I felt my body go numb. 'I hurt Jesse' ran through my mind on loop. I wanted to scream or something to get this reality out of my mind that I physically hurt my best friend. "Please Sage, I really don't want you to cry. Please, Sage, please. Stop, I really don't care. You couldn't help it and it really didn't hurt," he whispered into my ear as he held me tighter. My tears started to soak into his shirt. Then all of a sudden he pushed me away but he tilted my head up with his hand that was now placed below my chin.

I stared into his cool eyes and somehow felt _lighter._ I saw the most sincere compassion ever in his eyes. I couldn't help but melt beneath his gaze. I felt my eyes dry up and my mouth fall open. He was so beautiful in the single moment so I tried to memorize his face. I loved the way his hair fell into his eyes and stuck up in random directions and the smirk that began to rise on his face. The way his emerald eyes shimmered when he looked at me but I saw a flicker of something cross his face but he quickly composed himself.

I closed my eyes for a second to change them to my mutant side so I could check his aura but I could feel his hand over my eyes. "Don't read my aura just now. I need you to look at me now, not my aura," he said in a whisper. I felt his hand lift and brush some hair out of my face. When my eyes opened a different expression was set on to his face, one of…desire almost. And then he let his face drift to mine.

Our lips crashed and I felt my world explode in vibrant colors. I felt the pink grow and take over all the other colors. My eyes opened as his lips left mine. I could honestly feel the deep blush spread across my face and my neck. "I've been wanting to do that for a while. I'll met you in the courtyard," Jesse said as he kissed my forehead and got up from the hospital bed. I watched him walk away a wave to me.

I sat there for a good five minute contemplating our exchange. Jesse actually kissed me and after what I heard from Blair, he never had a girlfriend at the academy before. I just got my first kiss from a guy who was my best friend who was my first crush. My heart actually felt full for once and nothing was wrong right now. I couldn't believe that I felt something, that I wasn't a total shell anymore.

I leaned over my bed and pulled out something from my bag and did something I hadn't done in a while. I pulled out my Ipod and put on the playlist I was listening to non-stop before I had _the_ operation. And my favorite song: Try It Again, by the Hives played. I almost bounced back to the dorm because I was just so alive at that moment. I didn't know how long this would last so I took advantage of this feeling. I just couldn't put a word to the feeling. Well, I could actually if I was being honest, but I wasn't sure if love qualified.

I guess my happiness was visible because when I opened the door to the dorm, Blair grabbed my arm and proceeded to drag me to her room. It was decorated in the standard Obelisk blue color, but it was so…fluffy. Everything was either made out of feathers, or it was furry or it was covered in fuzzy material. Even the walls were covered in Obelisk blue colored fleece. She noticed my shocked expression and asked me, "Like it? I did it myself! I love to decorate rooms and I guess I was in a fluffy soft mood when I picked out my stuff," my other best friend said with a sheepish grin.

"Its really cool. I don't know if I'd live in it but I can see you in it. I'm not really a fluff person," I said with a smile.

"Well, usually I'd agree with that but you looked like a pink, fluff girl in the entry room. What happened last night with Jesse? Spill, give me details, please please please!" Blair squealed. I cringed at her enthusiasm. I wasn't around happy for so long that it honestly freaked me out a bit.

"I can't right now. I have a duel in," I said looking at my 'invisible watch' on my wrist while I calculated the minutes. "Fifteen minutes! Crap I really need to go get ready! Sorry Blair!" I yelled as she slammed the door before I could leave.

"I have an outfit for you. Believe me, you'll love it! Oh yeah, on the weekends we can wear what ever we want as long as its 'appropriate,'" she said as she skipped to her closet where she had clothes picked out, presumably for me. I hated to say it, but I loved the outfit. It was simple but it had an edge, which was exactly my style at home. I gazed at the simple green shorts, and blue and black baseball shirt, but I instantly loved the highlighter yellow hoodie and matching sunglasses.

"How do you know what I like already? I met you yesterday! How can I express how much of a lifesaver you are? Seriously, you are amazing!" I gushed as I was in the bathroom changing into her outfit. I never had a friend like Blair before and I didn't really know what the common courtesy was when an amazing person let you borrow her clothes.

I rushed out of the room and the dorm and patted my legs to see if I had my cardholder and then checked if it still had my deck in it. I fanned out my cards to check that it was still complete and ran through my checklist to see if everything was still there. Suddenly I fell, my head hit something hard and my cards flew everywhere. "Hey, watch it. Ouch, my head," I said without looking who it was but when I did, I really didn't regret my rude words.

Kari just sat there with a face that was ridiculously funny. She was freaked out to say the least, but the internal battle not to offend me was evident on her features. I couldn't help bursting into giggles when I really studied her features. She was shaking and a couple of tear dribbled down her face but what was really funny was her makeup was streaming down her face making her look like a wet clown. My tears and laughs became uncontrollable because her face was just so priceless. "What's s-so f-funny?" she stuttered, fear obviously crippling her voice.

Just to play it up a bit I changed my eyes for effect and said coolly "Your face. Next time, use waterproof." I'm not usually this mean or cruel to people, but she deserved it. After what I had seen her do, Kari lost human status in my book. No person could actually be that cruel to anyone without feeling guilty or having a conscience and believe me when I say that I've already checked thoroughly. Her soul was just as black and barren as her heart. I guess Kari just didn't have soul.

After I watched Kari scramble away like a kicked puppy, I bent down to pick up my cards. I once again ran through my deck to make sure everything was there. I don't know what I would do if I lost any of my cards, its not like I could replace them. Loosing a card would be like loosing a piece of me and that just wasn't an option. After being so broken for so long, I was struggling to keep everything together. And then I saw Ruby scampering over to me. She immediately jumped into my lap and started licking my face.

"So my bloodhound found ya? You look really… pretty Sage," Jesse said as a light blush warmed up his cheeks. "Do ya'll want to duel here or somewhere else less public? I know you like to keep a low profile so dueling in the most crowded area on campus might not be the best idea…" He was just too sweet sometimes. I still couldn't the fact that he wanted to be with me.

"Come on, let's go to this cool place I found a couple of days ago. It was really pretty and I really want to go back there," I answered as I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the tree near the cliff that I cried under my first day. I wanted to get past the bad memories that happened here and I guessed that a duel would help me. I wanted to truly experience the beauty of my tree and as of now it was tainted by my past feelings of grief.

"Figures you would come here. I come to this tree when I need a place to hide. I actually just left here when you ran into me your first day. There use to be a swing here when I first got to the Academy but a couple of third years broke it during second semester. I guess no one ever replaced it," Jesse said, lost in his thoughts. I took this moment to observe his thoughts. I switched my eyes and let my sixth sense take over.

There was a lot of yellow and pink tones as well as some red and blue. He seemed really at one with himself and retrospective. But there were definitely some hopes for the future in there. I caught a glimpse of a mental picture. It was one of him and me; I was sitting on his lap with my head resting on his shoulder. We were sitting on a swing at sunset in a place that looked similar to this. Our eyes were exploring the depths of the others and our heads were moving closer to each other when the image cut off. Instantly I wanted the image to keep going until I saw if we kissed but I was brought out of my world when I felt someone shaking my shoulder roughly.

"Huh, sorry. What were you saying?" I whispered with a sheepish grin. I knew he caught me reading his mind and I'm sure I had the look of a five year old with his hand in the cookie jar.

"I didn't say anything, but your eyes was glowing brighter than a flashlight. What were ya looking for in my mind, because I'm positive it wasn't my dueling strategy," he said with a wide grin. I was so busted.

"Uhhhh, I just wanted to see how you were feeling?" I could feel myself growing hot under his gaze and I wasn't sure if he or me being busted made me blush.

"Yeah right Sage. You were looking at my daydream weren't ya? I always forget that I can't keep anything from you, but I guess it's for the best. Now I can't lie to ya'll and ya believe me when I say that I want to so may things with you that one daydream can't hold," Jesse sated with so much conviction in his voice that I didn't have to check if he was telling the truth. "Sage, do ya want to make this duel a bit more interesting? I never got to tell ya my idea at the nurses office."

I was just so speechless and stunned that all I could do was nod my head. He basically said that he liked me a lot in that mini speech. I had never had a crush before, let alone a boyfriend. Was that what Jesse is? My boyfriend?

"If I win you'll go on a date with me, and if I loose…" he said motioning to me with his hand.

"You'll put the swing back up so we can make that last thought closer to a reality," stated with no hesitation in my voice. I was never the most confident person ever and I would even admit that I had no idea how I said that without faltering. Even just knowing him for a few days, Jesse had already flipped my world and given me a new perspective on life.

"That sounds good to me, lets shake on it," he said, though it sounded like he had other things in mind. I took a step closer to him and suddenly I found myself being wrapped in his arms and our hands were intertwined, but before he could do anything else, I pressed my lips softly to his and quickly pulled away.

"I think I like the idea of our deal being sealed with a kiss more," I called with the perfect amount of dominance in my voice as I turned and walked away from him. He simply nodded with his face in complete shock. "Are you ready to get your butt kicked, Jess?"

"In your dreams!" he called. That was one of the things I absolutely loved about Jesse. One second he could be completely out of it and the next he was ultra competitive. He definitely kept me guessing most of the time. But after that comment the air changed, almost as if our competition affected it. I switched my eyes so they were glowing and with that the duel was on.

**Sorry for the cliffy... I just want to prolong the torture a bit more. Let me know what you think about the kiss! and my deck preview in a review please! Thanks and as always,**

**See Ya!**


	11. Get your game on!

**Yay! Finally its time for the duel! The end of this chapter is very fluffy and I got to say that I love it! Sorry that I haven't been updating as regularly as I would have liked to but school is just piling on the work now. I hope you guys like this chapter and thanks for all of your reviews! **

**So on with it :)**

**JPOV**

'Okay, this is it. All I need to do is impress Sage, confess my love to her, and win the duel to keep my title. No pressure, Jess. You can do this. Yeah, right, just a couple of life changing events are just riding on this duel. No problem,' I thought to myself. Pep talks usually work for me but I guess not today. Dueling Sage would just be a whole new experience for me. I had never dueled a person that knew my strategies almost as well as I do but to know that I had a major crush on her added a whole new dimension of issues. If I was being honest, I would admit that this duel was just impossible to win.

"Duel!" we yelled in unison. I drew my cards and a whole rush of confidence ran through me. I had a perfect combination in my hand already and I knew I hand a chance.

"My move. I summon Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat and equip her with Crystal Release! This gives my pretty kitty a bit more bite, 800 attack points to be exact. And by cutting her attack points in half to 1000, I can attack you directly. Sorry Sage, but I ain't going easy on you," I said as my beast pounced to attack her. I couldn't read her expressions because her eyes were in full on glow mode. She looked positively beautiful and I felt guilty attacking her. My eyes followed my monster as she jumped though Sage. She didn't even flinch as her life points dropped to 3000. "I set one card face down and end my turn on that note."

She drew her card without even looking at it. She must have already known what it was because she began to set up her move.

"I play my Aura Warrior in attack mode (1300ATK, 1000DEF). She might not be to menacing quite yet but once I play these three spells and call in some back up, you'll be in for it," she called with a smirk playing across he lips. She proceeded to place three cards in her spell zone each with a different light rising from the holographic card. One was black, one pure white, and the last looked like fire almost.

"These cards are aura spells. When I play one, you can't summon the corresponding attribute. These ones are black, white and red so, your dark, divine and fire attributes are out! I decided to let you off and not prevent you from playing your beasts quite yet," she said with a cute wink as her warriors arrows seemed to glow even more. "These cards also activate my warrior's ability. She gains 300 attack points (**2200ATK**) from each one of them! Aura Warrior, attack his Amethyst Cat with Arrow Slash." Her monster then let one of her knocked arrows loose and it seemed to go straight through my cat. My life points then dropped down to 2800 and once again this was about to get interesting.

"Hold up a second. If the monster equipped with crystal release is destroyed I can bring a beast to my spell and trap zone. Ruby you're on!" I said as a bright red Ruby appeared on my field. I swear I could feel Sage reaching into my mind then. I could tell that she was trying to figure out what my plan was and I saw her stumble across a memory of mine that would give my strategy away. As my duel with Zane flashed across my mind I could tell she found what she was looking for because she left my mind then.

"Then I'll then play another one of my favorites, Aura Triumvirate. This spell allows me to summon three aura monsters from my deck with a few of downsides. Only one can attack this turn and only two can activate their ability plus they only stick around for two turns. I also have to sacrifice one of my spells but this card is worth it," she stated with a wide smile. She looked so carefree in that moment I swear I almost called off the duel just to hug her.

Everything then began to take action, as her white light evaporated into the air. Three swirling portals of light opened and out came three monsters. I could recognize Aurelis **(ATK100 DEF0) **right away as her fairy flew out with some sparks trailing behind. The next monster was another Aura Warrior, glowing arrows and all. The last monster though was a complete mystery. It looked, well, a lot like Sage. Her face and body were definitely Sage's but she had glowing dragonfly wings coming out of her back. I also noticed her hands were in tight fists with ominous, razor sharp, claws coming out of them. She also had glowing trails all over her body that originated at a tattoo on her shoulder the same color as Sage's eyes when they glowed.

Now that I looked closely though I could see the same symbol of the tattoo on all of her monsters. It was an eye with an icy blue white iris and two claws coming out from the edges of the eye. Her warrior's mark was on her dress near the bottom and Aurelis's was being worn as a necklace. Once the Sage look alike was on the field, all of the eyes began to glow intensely.

"Jesse, you have already met Aurelis but you haven't met my strongest monster quite yet though. Say hello to Reginona **(ATK4200 DEF2000)**, the spirit of the aura. She's my absolute best card and with her on the field this duel is as good as done. I'm electing to activate Aurelis's ability and my second warrior's ability though, to keep this more interesting. Now my second warrior attacks you directly!"

Good thing I put down that face down. With the way Sage's deck was turning out, the article was not emphasizing how amazing of a duelist Sage was. "I activate my face down, Crystal Pair! With this I don't receive battle damage this turn and I can bring a crystal to my spell zone. And with that come on out Emerald Tortoise!" A slightly mossy green gem appeared in my zone and with that it was my turn.

"Now I summon my Sapphire Pegasus to the field and bring another gem to my field with his ability!" I said as my monster materialized another blocky orange gem was now close to me. No here's the really fun part, I'm gonna activate my Ruru's ability: If she is special summoned to my spell zone, I can release all of my monsters from their gems. I'll lay a couple of face downs and then I'll end my turn." Most of my beasts were now on my field and I'll be able to maybe get Rainbow Dragon next turn.

"I guess I expected more from you but I guess not," she taunted as she drew. I could feel my smile drop when Sage smirked and actually let out a jubilant laugh, "Sorry, Jess but I just won. I now equip both of my Aura Claws magic card to my Reginona, giving her 700 ATK for each raising her power to 5600ATK! Now, I'll attack your Amber Mammoth with Aura Claw Spirit Swipe," Her monster began to lunge at my mammoth but before the hit took place a bright light erupted from my monster's forehead gem, saving me from her deadly attack.

"I just activated Amber Crystal Circle. This gives my mammoth all of the attack points of my other beasts for this turn. Now that our monsters attacks are identical, It's going to make us tie because we're both toast," this was almost the same as duel I had with Zane only he didn't seem as happy as Sage. She almost looked like she was going to start jumping around and doing cartwheels. I was now just plainly confused.

"Again sorry, Jess. I play my facedown Guiding Aura! With it I can redirect any attack, including my own, and I can also fire it at my own monsters. Sorry baby girl, but I'm redirecting the attack to my Aurelis. You then loose because of her ability. Sorry Jess, I hope I didn't kill you ego too much."

She had me and I knew it. My other face down was Mystical Space Typhoon, which wouldn't help me here at all. I was toast and I also lost our bet. I just found it impossible though to stay angry for even a second. Sage's eyes cleared my head and instantly calmed me down; she was almost my anti-drug even.

She just seemed so exhilarated by her win and she actually threw her head back in laughter. Sage was a very serious person so just knowing that she laughed because of our duel just made me smile. I started to walk over to her when she full on sprinted into my arms. I stumbled backwards a bit from the unexpected bone-crushing hug she threw herself into. I wrapped my arms around her waist and let my chin rest on top of her head and for a second, everything was perfect. I had Sage in my arms, she was happy and the flurries of snow falling around us made the scene even more picturesque.

This had to be the first storm of the season because when I had gotten here, most of the snow had melted. It was nice to know that we could enjoy the weather together now. I always hated being curled up in the dorm huddled as close to the fireplace as possible with a bunch of shivering guys.

"I'm glad that you're excited by us cuddling, Jesse," Sage giggled into my shoulder with her face turning slightly red.

"I'm glad that you're so nosy, Sage. It saves me the trouble of actually having to speak aloud sometimes," I whispered into her ear and an even brighter shade of red spread across her cheeks. "Lets get back to the dorm before you freeze. I'll race you…" I said trailing off a bit looking down at her emerald eyes.

I look of deep thought crossed her face before she looked up at me through her eyelashes. I could feel my body freeze as she quickly pecked my lips and with that she sprinted towards the dorms.

"Meet ya there Jess!" She called over her shoulder before waving to me. The fact that Sage liked to play dirty was now etched into my mind as I took off after her. She was easily thirty yards ahead of me, because of my temporary paralysis, when I took off but I was faster and soon began to close the distance. I couldn't help but notice how athletic she looked when she ran with such a precise step. Her strides looked almost calculated and she always seemed to place her foot at the exact angle that would give her the most momentum. Her eyes were a blazing icy blue color when she looked over to me. A big smile spread across her face as a laugh tried to escape. I wondered why she would be laughing when it hit me, literally.

I fell backwards when the large branch and I collided. I guess karma wanted to punish me for checking Sage out. Embarrassment was the only thing that registered in my mind when I picked myself up. I examined my head just to make sure I wasn't bleeding or anything when a laughing Blair dropped down from another branch on the massive pine tree. The two girls exchanged a fist bump while they doubled over backwards with laughter.

"Nice distraction!"

"Great plan!"

"Now that you guys are done pulling pranks on me can we go?" I said in a bit of a moan. My head was still spinning slightly and I was going to have a bunch of bruises from the fall tomorrow. All I wanted to do was lie down so I started to walk away with what little pride was still intact.

"Jesse, are you okay? We didn't mean to hurt you," Sage said draping my arm over her shoulders to give me something stable to hold on too. Sage leaned up to my ear and whispered "Would a kiss make it better?" in my ear. I felt a goofy grin on my lips as she proceeded to kiss my cheek. I had a feeling that this night was going to be quite entertaining.

XXXXXOXXXXX

It was around ten now. The three of us had spent the afternoon in Blair's furry paradise watching the DVD of the battle city finals. Sage and I got into a couple of argument over dueling strategies and Blair just kept telling us to shut up and watch. All in all this afternoon was the most fun I had in a while.

Blair was now snoring loudly on the bed mumbling every so often about cheesy hamsters while Sage and I we watching the final minutes of Yugi and Kaiba's duel. To say it was exciting was an understatement. We both knew Yugi would win but once Kaiba played 'Final Attack Orders' we were both on the edge of our seats.

"I must have seen this duel a million times but it never gets old. I love the look on Kaiba's face when Yugi summons Dark Paladin. He never smiles does he? Almost like me before I met you." Sage said her voice growing slightly regretful.

"Don't say that Sage. Don't dwell on the past because we have the future. And speaking the future, how do you feel about instead of it being my future or your future, it'll be our future? Sage I've never really done this before but will you be my," I cut off as Sage started to tear up.

"No one has ever cared about me before. My parents never really cared about me and my friends were nonexistent. I just though that I was, well, unlovable. You changed that Jess, and yes," she said while changing her eyes and wiping away a tear with the back of her hand. "I will be your girlfriend."

I took her hand in mine and watched our fingers intertwine. All I could do then was stare deep into her eyes and watch the same expression staring back at me.

"We should get some sleep Sage. Believe me when I say that all I want to do is be here with you but I want to build that swing tomorrow."

"Good idea, and thanks for everything Jess. Without you, I don't know what I would do." Sage said as we both drifted off to sleep.

**Tell me what you think by reviewing or PMing me. Here is a brief description of what Sage's other cards look like:**

**All the Aura Spells have the aura symbol with the color of the light that come out of the card in the iris instead of the blue color. **

**Aura Triumvirate has the sphere above Regina in her picture in a triangle formation. The aura symbol is then in the middle of the triangle with a light connecting the symbol and the spheres together.**

**Guiding Aura is the outline of Aurelis but smaller and washed out in a white, with a white arrow (like the one from Aura Warrior's card) pointing up.**

Thanks again and See Ya!


	12. These Songs Will Never Be the Same

**Hello everyone! Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I've been really sick the past couple of days and slightly comatose. I really have not had a good night of sleep in live three days so I apologize in advance for any errors. **

**I decided to take a slightly different approach to this chapter and kind of go off of one of my favorite songs ever. It's a bit of a sappy song but I absolutely love it. I'll post a link to it in my profile and here is an excerpt from it:**

**I feel like a hero and you are my heroine**

**And I feel a weakness coming on**

**Never felt so good to be so wrong**

**Had my heart on lockdown**

**And then you turned me around**

**(Do you know that your love is the sweetest sin?)**

**I'm feeling like a newborn child**

**Every time I get a chance to see you smile**

**It's not complicated**

**~Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls~**

**I hope you guys like in and please review. I'm slightly addicted to them and in all honesty I drop what ever I'm doing to write. I hope I'm not sounding whiney but I love when you guys help me become a better writer. I especially want to thank Dirigo, DMG44, Azul Angel1251596, and x-xdemonx-x for their constant reviews. You guys always put a smile on my face!**

**So on with it!**

**Oh yeah, I don't own Yugioh gx so don't eat me for copy right infringement!**

**SPOV**

A loud thumping was echoing around the room when I woke up. It was way too early to wake up so I tried to muffle the noise by wrapping my pillow around my head. Needless to say, that wasn't working very well so I figured that I might as well get up. Jesse must have already left because Blair and I were the only ones in the room. She was still asleep so I figured that it would be okay if I used the bathroom first.

I went through my morning routine, brushing my teeth, washing my face, and of course trying to comb out the mess that was my hair. When I got to the section near my neck I noticed a new mark on my neck. It was a thin line that curved like a wave and it seemed to originate from the base of my neck. I guessed that it was just from Blair's couch so I didn't examine it too closely.

Once I was done, I walked out of the bathroom to a hyperactive Blair bouncing in place. I already knew what she wanted so I just answered automatically.

"Yes, Jesse and I are together." She shrieked and I jumped back a bit from the unexpected noise. She started jumping up and down and started demanding for details.

"So after you left the hospital, Jesse stayed with me and we started to talk in the morning, the situation got kind of intense once I saw that I had scratched his arms. I got really upset and pissed at myself for doing that. I mean I know I couldn't control it but I was still angry with myself. Then he kissed me and…" before I could continue Blair slapped her hand over my mouth. Confusion crossed my face at her reaction but she decided to clear that up for me.

"Shut up! He kissed you first! Seriously?" she almost screamed.

"Quiet! I don't want the entire dorm hearing, but yeah, he kissed me first. Then we decided to duel and I came running back here. Then we ran into each other and you gave me the outfit, which I love by the way. I went to the courtyard to meet him and I dealt with Kari who was being a bitch. I made her cry and then Jesse found me. We dueled and I beat him with my super awesome deck. Afterwards we hugged and I found the note in the pocket of the jacket. He wanted to race me afterwards so for some unknown reason the distraction we needed just dropped in my lap so then you hit him with the branch and yeah." I said and I took a gigantic breath.

"Wow… He must really really like you." Blair mused with wide eyes. She zoned out for a minute and I couldn't take the suspense any longer. I closed my eyes to switch and began to read her aura. There was a lot of yellow and orange with a bit of pink and purple. The protectiveness she felt was painfully obvious. Should she be scared for me and worried that Jess was going to hurt me? To say the truth, I didn't really know.

"Blair, you there? Earth to Blair! Are you okay?" I said somewhat frantically while waving my hand in front of her eyes. I always hated waiting and usually I didn't have to wait for people to say anything because I could just look into their minds. I can't find reasons for feeling though which only adds to my aggravation most of the time. "Why are you so worried about me and Jess? Is he going to hurt me? You're feeling really protective, is there a reason. Tell me please. I'm begging, don't make me wait any longer. Please please please!" I said with my manic need to know showing through.

"Wow, you really need to know don't you," she stated with an incredulous look in her eyes. I nodded my head vigorously in agreement and she continued. "Jess has, well, done some things that he isn't necessarily proud of. It is not my place to tell you but I'm worried. I don't really know much and I don't know why he did those things so I'm not going to judge him for them. You should ask him though. Lets go grab lunch and some hot chocolate. It's starting to get really cold."

I didn't really know what to make of Blair worried expression. My moral half won the battle to look into her aura. Aurelis was by my head comforting me now and I knew that my aura must have been very blue and orange for her to come out in front of Blair. My Aurelis was extremely shy around strangers, especially ones that couldn't see her. I sent her a few waves of gratitude and she let out her happy giggly laugh. The entire time our exchange was going on you could see Blair's face go from confused to worried to recognition.

"You have a spirit partner too, don't you? Which one of your monsters? Show me!" my best friend demanded. I pulled out my cards and sifted through my deck until found the card I was looking for. My little fairy winked at me as I handed my creation to Blair. I could tell she wanted to see the rest of my deck so I took my cards out and handed them to her. For the next thirty minutes I just laughed at her wide range of expressions while looking through my deck. Her face seemed to go everywhere, contorting into grins and her jaw dropped at Reginona.

"This monster looks exactly like you. Did you plan it out that way or did it just kind of happen?" Blair said with her eyes looking at the card longingly.

"Well, originally she looked completely different. Her hair was black, the wings looked more like a bird's than a dragonfly's, and her eye tattoo was centered, like the area where your collarbones meet. When Pegasus had to look her over and he decided change her face structure completely and pretty much to go to town with it. Eventually Reginona just kind of became, well, me. There are a few differences between us though beside my obvious lack of wings and tattoos. She just sort of embodies the, I don't want to say evil, but the harsher side of me, the ruthless side. The flipside then is Aurelis and Regina," I said pausing momentarily to hand her the cards to compare.

"I like to think that I have a similar, more gentle demeanor like those two when I'm not dueling or in full on glow mode," I said with a bit of nostalgia in my voice. I could see the original sketch of Reginona in my head. Now that I though about it she looked a lot like a Harpy Lady, though she looked almost crueler than one. Now she seemed less menacing, but she still held an air of power in her picture. Blair just seemed a bit out of it when she looked at me, "What's up? What are you staring at?"

"T-the wave on your neck that wasn't there before. It looks, it looks like the tattoo's aura path on Reginona," she whispered as her fingers cautiously rose to touch the new mark. I ran to the bathroom before she could make contact though. The mark was not from the couch apparently and I had to see what she was talking about. Things were getting weirder and weirder everyday here.

As I inspected my neck, I could feel the fear in my aura become apparent. The thin cyan blue waves started at outer corners of my eyes, where they came to a point. If you followed them down my face they arced towards the outer edge of my face and they continued down my neck. Finally they gracefully disappeared behind my back. They weren't extremely obvious and you could only see the extent of the wave if you looked closely. Blair then rushed in and I could intuitively feel her about to ask to see my marks, which I shot down.

"Come on! I'm starving and you can look at my deck and me later. Let go get some food please," I said as I literally dragged Blair though the freezing hallway to the dining room. I tried desperately to find a distraction from my anxiety in the gaudy hallway. I realized after a couple of seconds that each of the golden sconces hanging on the velvet-lined wall had an angel type duel monsters carved into it. I recognized quite a few and I decided to preoccupy myself by trying to remember what level each monster was. Eventually we made our way to the dining room, which to my surprise was extremely unpopulated.

We got our food from the buffet and I noticed that I had absentmindedly piled a lot on to my plate. I always ate more when I was nervous but this was getting really ridiculous extremely fast. I had two bowls of soup, a large salad, pasta, an apple and a roll by the time we were out of the line. Blair then dragged me to her supposed favorite table, which was on the opposite side of the room. The table was directly below an oval window and was smaller than the other ones in the room. It could hold maybe four people as opposed to ten.

I only realized how panicked I was when some other student looked at me from across the room and I almost yelped. I tried to hide the jumpy feelings by eating the copious amounts of food I brought to our table. I shoveled the endless supply into my mouth in a continuous stream until I saw my friend's expression change from one of awe to a furtive glance over my shoulder. My entire body went rigid when pair of strong hands placed themselves on my shoulders while their owner's head was right behind mine.

"The only time I've seen someone eat that much food was when Jaden was in the hospital after he collapsed the first time after his duel with Axel, right Blair?" a familiar smooth southern drawl said into my ear. After Jesse's distinct voice allowed my tense position to relax, I felt him slide into the seat next to me. He decided to trail his fingertips down my arm, which made me shudder slightly. He clasped my hand and Blair just sat there with a big smug grin on her face.

"Hey Jess. Where did you go this morning?" I asked with genuine curiosity. Not only did I want to know but the question also distracted Blair from talking about the marks, at least for the time being.

"I decided to get an early start on fulfilling my end of our bet. It's almost ready and all I need to do is secure it to the tree. I just decided to break from working to eat. I walked in here and spotted ya'll and decided to sneak up on ya Sage. I hope I didn't scare ya too much though because ya wouldn't let me do this if ya'll were," my boyfriend trailed off and lightly kissed my cheek. I felt my cheeks flush a bit but my happiness was so undeniable at that moment I couldn't care less. Through the haze of my mild embarrassment though I could see Blair trying to pull her jaw up from the floor.

"Here take some of my food," I said pushing my tray to him. "I took way too much, so would you please have some? I would feel guilty throwing the rest of this out." I added to explain half my reasoning. I truly wasn't hungry anymore now that his peaceful presence was here calming my pervious anxiety but I really didn't want him to leave. I knew it was pathetic but I could swear something felt like it was tearing inside me every time he was away from me.

He started to cautiously pick apart the roll I hadn't touched yet but miraculously he did it without letting go of my hand. He seemed slightly puzzled and reluctant to eat the food. "Are ya okay Sage? One minute you're eating like an animal and the next ya aren't hungry. You look different too Sage, paler maybe. Are ya sick?" he said as he began to raise his hand to check if I had a fever. I bolted before he had the chance. I didn't know why but I just had a bad feeling about him studying my face. It almost felt like if he looked at my face he would become scared of me if that was possible.

I was almost to my room when I got the sense that someone following me. I turned around, now glowing in an effort to prepare myself in case of a fight, to see Jesse's aura through the wall around the corner. A frantic blue, red, purple and white mixture dominated his aura until he saw me. The blue then spiked as he held his hands up in an effort to show that he meant no harm. He felt extreme guilt and sadness because he though he hurt me and with that I knew I hurt him in the process.

"Jesse, I'm not going to hurt you. I just let my instincts take over when I heard someone following me and in the process I changed my eyes. I'm sorry I left. I just don't know what came over me. I'm sorry," I whispered quietly, ashamed to say it any louder. I felt the tears coming on when Jesse, in a newly orange and yellow aura, wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I don't know what do to really to help ya. I hope that ya don't hold anything against me. Ya know that your eyes aren't the only part of you glowing right?" He said softly in my ear while we continued our embrace.

"No, I didn't actually. Where am I glowing?"

"There are these, I don't exactly know what to call them, paths or tattoos maybe. Anyways there are these new paths on your face, neck, and shoulders that are glowing. They're really beautiful by the way," Jesse said as feather light touches from his hands followed my newly acquired marks, "Do you want to go to your room or my room now or do you want to see the swing?"

"Lets go to my room, its just a couple dorrs over," I said as I began to lead him to my room. It was just as plain as I remembered and most of my stuff was still packed but my computer was still out displaying my Itunes library. If I remember correctly, it was playing the acoustic version of Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls. For some reason, this song was really relaxing if it was played at the correct volume and I use to fall asleep to it all the time. I directed Jesse to sit on my couch while grabbed my computer. I sat down next to him and he then grabbed my laptop from my hands.

"You like BLG?"

"Yeah, I love them. I use to fall asleep to this song all the time. I know that it's not a particularly happy message but it was sort of my feeling of love at the time. You know, the whole someone putting themselves out there and then getting crushed."

"I can see that meaning but unlike most people, I kind of feel that the song is more about a fight in a relationship that the people just fixed."

"Now that you say that, it makes more sense. That's way happier than my original interpretation. I love doing this though, interpreting songs especially with you because you understand me. I have to say that most of BLG's songs kind of remind me of you," I said with a bit of a sheepish grin. I had said a bit more than I wanted to but it felt right putting myself out in front Jess. I knew he would never hurt me and I knew I was safe with him. I then found myself completely shocked his next actions.

"I tried to read between the lines. I tried to look in your eyes I want a simple explanation; what I'm feeling inside. I gotta find a way out, maybe there's a way out. Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer. Do you know you're unlike any other? You'll always be my thunder, and I said your eyes are the brightest of all the colors. I don't wanna ever love another," Jesse quoted perfectly. And then pointing to me he said, "You'll always be my thunder…" I couldn't escape the tears that followed and soon I kissed him.

This wasn't like our previous chastise kisses. This one was more passionate as I tried to put myself entirely into this kiss. I could feel his hands sliding down my arms going to my waist and the shivers that simple act induced. I tried to go off instinct rather than experience because I honestly had none when I trailed my hands to his perfect teal hair. Of course my intermittent clumsiness had to show up now and the kiss was broken. The next thing I knew was I was on the ground and Jesse was sprawled on top of me.

We were then in a giant fit of giggles as he pulled himself off of me. I saw a flash of something in his eyes though when he was halfway off of me. He almost looked reluctant to laugh and by avoiding my gaze he accentuated that. It was now my turn to be worried about the other. Had I done something to upset him? My insecurities flared though when he made absolutely no movements.

"Are you okay?" I said as I desperately tried to keep my voice even.

"I'm more than okay," he said with a completely numb monotone that was similar to mine. "That was probably the single best experience in my life and I'm just genuinely too shocked to react. All I can is that was, well, wow."

"Yeah. As you articulately put it, that was…wow." I said as I tried to find his hand in my blind state. A slight smile crossed my lips as we turned our heads at the same time to meet each others gaze.

"Those songs will never be the same."

**I hope you guys liked it! I think I'm going to go back and edit my first chapter for some inconsistencies. Let me know how you feel about it and There will be a duel in either the next chapter or the one after that! Oh yeah and if any one of you read The House of Night**** series, Sage's new marks are similar to Zoey getting more tattoos. I'll also post a link to a picture that reminds me of the blue I'm trying to portray when Sage glows.**

**Thanks again and See Ya!**


	13. Headaches Can Only Lead To One Thing

Hey guys! Let the sharp object throwing commence. I realize I haven't updated in about two weeks and yes I do have a reason! I have been grounded for the past couple of weeks because I was being really stupid so I've been unable to write. I give you guys permission to slap me via review or pm.

I've also been having a bit of a writer's block so I decided to add in a new plot element... I'm not sure how well it will flow but let me know!

Oh and the song lyrics are from my new favorite band Powerspace. I was honestly listening to this song the entire time I was writing this so I though it would fit.

Anyways, on with it:

**One, two, three**

**Are you feeling me?**

**It's getting late and it's hard to see**

**I've got some problems**

**But not enough to stop me**

**Cause I can't stop, I can't stop**

**I won't stop, won't stop**

**Can't stop until I know for sure**

**This night ends with me and you**

**(Be, be aggressive, be, be aggressive)**

**Be, be aggressive**

**B-e, be aggressive**

**You never know just who you're up against, so**

**B-e, b-e aggressive**

**B-e, b-e aggressive**

**~Be Aggressive by Powerspace~**

**JPOV**

"Those songs will never be the same," I said slightly panting. I hoped that Sage wouldn't catch on to my breathing because I doubted that anything could be more embarrassing.

I was completely mesmerized by Sage in this moment. I felt my eyes wanting to stare into hers forever until they found the marks. They were beautiful to say the least but what really got me was when Sage turned around in that exact minute. "I honestly have no idea when they lead and I'm really curious. Would ya mind checking them out?" she asked in an overly innocent voice. She knew me way to well.

Sometimes I hated that she could read my mind but my though was cut off when Sage said, "If you want me to stop I will." I looked down to see her glowing I already knew what she heard then.

"Sage, I didn't mean it like that. Its just weird not being able to keep secrets ever. I love that you know me so well already but I need some time to adjust. Now lets look at your marks," I said as I reached to pull the collar of her shirt down slightly. I could feel her shudder slightly as my hands ran down her back and just to keep getting that reaction I kissed the back of her neck. I wasn't usually this confident but Sage just had this way of bringing out the best in me.

The marks were not extremely noticeable and unless you were looking for something on her back, you would not see them. From her neck the two slightly blue lines met at her shoulder blades. At the point where the lines were about to intersect, a small aura symbol appeared. Suddenly the lines began to glow and Sage turned around. Her white eyes were looking towards the wall and her expression became one of nerves.

"Blair told me something this morning that I don't exactly know how to take in," she paused for a moment and I could feel the air in the room change. The joy I had just been feeling disappeared and my loneliness surged to the surface. I knew what she was hinting at and honestly I didn't know what to say. I lifted my hands from her back and scooted away slightly. My memory was particularly fuzzy during the time that Yubel had control over me. I sort of knew that it wasn't my fault but I could never be sure. I had hurt so many people and it felt like if I had been stronger, I could have freed myself from her control. "I just need you to know that I won't judge you and if you want to talk about it let me know. I don't want you to feel like you have to tell me or that I'm pressuring you."

I couldn't take it any longer when she said that. She seemed almost guilty for bringing my past up. I did want to talk with her about it but I was nervous. She had already shown and told me everything about her, and I needed to do the same.

"You feel like you have to tell me," she stated with no hit of a questioning in her voice. I turned to look at her and grabbed her hand. I stayed silent because I honestly hand not idea what to say. "Think about it first. I don't want you to have any regrets. Just know that I'll listen whenever you want me to. I'm always here for you, Jess, don't forget that."

Suddenly everything changed. Sage started to grab her head like she was in pain and when I leaned in to help her but Blair ran into the room. Blair began to scream something about a giant rock but I was so focused on Sage I didn't catch it all. Her hands were grabbing her head so hard that her knuckles turned white. The marks began to intermittently change and she fell on to her side on the floor. I had no idea what was wrong but my instincts began to kick in and adrenaline rushed through my system.

"Sage, are you okay?" I only got a small shake of her head, so I addressed the other problem. "Blair, what's wrong and this time slow down."

"I'm not sure exactly but like two minutes ago the sky turned white and this weird rock crashed on the island and something crawled out of it. I think that is what's messing with Sage, but I'm not sure."

"I'm gonna go check it out and Blair take Sage somewhere safe," I said as I slid my duel disk on my arm and loaded my deck. A hand spun me around so fast I almost fell but what really surprised me was whose hand it was.

"I'm going with ya, Jess. You have no shot at making me stay behind and besides I'm fine now," Sage said in a slightly weak voice. She looked like she was still in pain but that would never stop her from coming.

"Sage, I know I'm not gonna convince ya to stay behind but at least let me carry you there," I said trying to mask my overwhelming concern. I hated seeing her like this and my protective instincts seemed to just kick in.

"No Jesse. I'm absolutely fine, there's no way you're going to get me to take it easy. I'm sure you know that," she said with a wink that looked more like a wince. I waited for her to grab her duel disk and we were off. Blair went the opposite direction of us to go try to round up some of the other students. I started to get the same feeling that I did right before Duel Academy disappeared into the other dimension and then and there I knew something big was up.

XXXXXOXXXXX

**SPOV**

When we got to the boulder thing Blair was talking about, I felt the same excruciating pain I felt in the dorm only magnified. My vision started to get blurry with the pain but I kept going. The only other time I had felt this much pain was during _the_ operation. I was close to my limit but I still pushed forward.

Panic was obvious amongst the chaotic group of people gathered around the boulder. I didn't even need to change my eyes to see that. A clearly defined line in the crowd separated the duelists from the spectators. Jesse and I pushed ourselves through the crowd to get closer. The wall of bodies cleared a path for us eventually and we finally made in to the inner ring of people. I noticed that the closer I got to the rock; my head throbbed and hurt even more. My vision became clouded and I had to concentrate more than usual on walking.

I finally broke the barricade of bodies and saw the creature. To say that it was intimidating was an understatement. The creature looked human except for the fact that it had bat like wings and was, to the best of my guessing ability, approximately nine feet tall. The crowd then became silent as soon as it spoke.

"Greetings, I am Emory. Move or I will destroy you and your weak group."

At that most of the mass began to back up and quiver in fear but I wouldn't have that. Instead of backing up I took a step forward. I could feel Jesse become tense beside me and try to reach out to me. To calm him I tried to wink but it must have looked more like I was crying.

"Look Emory, on this island we solve problems by dueling, and right now you're my problem. I challenge you to a duel," I said as the monster looked at me.

"You wish to defy me, pitiful human! I shall show you no mercy in this duel as I rip you limb from limb."

"Sage don't do this! You could barely stand a few minutes ago, and I can't see you get hurt anymore," Jesse said as he grabbed my arm.

"I need to do this. I'll be fine and if I don't get this guy to leave, my headache will never go away. And yeah, I do think Blair was right about me getting messed up by this thing," I said as strong as possible and with that he dropped his arm from mine. I changed my eyes to get prepared and I knew as soon as I heard his voice I could do this.

"Just be careful and know I'll be here to catch you if ya fall."

I tried to blink away the newest coat of tears as I slid on my signature black fingerless gloves. They were partially from the pain but mostly because I knew that Jesse would do anything for me. Before I met him, no one had ever cared about me before. They were all too scared of me to even try to get to know me. I never thought everything could change so fast, but I'm glad it did.

"Listen Emory, if I win you'll leave this island immediately. If you win you can stay, agreed?" I sneered a bit. I knew this duel would be rough but I needed to keep the people that had given me a chance safe and this was the only way I knew how to do that. I took a deep breath and put my game face on.

"Agreed, puny earthling," the creature said as his arm turned into a duel disk that was as freaky as him. "Oh, I will make the first move leading to your demise. First I play the field spell Neo-Space, and I summon Neo-Spacian Air Humming Bird to the field in defense mode. This monster's effect allows me to gain 500 LP for every card in your hand **(4000 - ****6500 LP)**. I'll end my turn by playing a card face down."

I had to admit that this guy was good. With his LP boost I would need to do some decent damage this turn to even take him down near me.

"First I start out with activating the blue and black aura spell cards. Whenever an aura spell is active on the field, the corresponding attribute cannot be summoned on your field, and in this case water and dark attributes are out. Next I'll summon the Aura Warrior in my hand. This monster gains 300ATK for every aura card active on the field **(1300 - ****1900ATK)**. Now Aura Warrior, show them your arrows and attack his bird!"

"Nice try, foolish girl! I activate my facedown Negate Attack! With this, your arrows shatter!" the disturbing batman laughed.

"I end my turn with a facedown."

"Now girl, you will pay for your mistake! I summon Elemental Hero Neos to the field. Now my monsters use your contact fusion to create Elemental Hero Air Neos. And with Neo-Space active my monster gains 500ATK **(2500 - ****3000ATK)**. Attack her, my hero, and destroy her so called warrior!"

"Now I'm giving you some pay back! I activate my face down, Magic Cylinder. Say goodbye to 3000LP because you attack is being sent right back at ya! **(6500 - ****3500LP)**"

"I end my turn."

"Good, and its my draw," I said looking at my new card, the exact one I needed to end this duel. "I'm sorry Emory, but this duel is checkmate for me! I activate another aura spell, and this one is green. Air Neos is no more because all wind attribute monsters are gone," I said as his monster was sucked into the green vortex on my field. The crowd started to go wild, as he was now defenseless, except for one person, my Jesse. His mouth was hanging open and his aura registered complete shock at the duel as well as numbness. I could see a few memories go through his head with a bunch of neo-spacians in them. I would need to ask him about this later but now I had to focus on the duel at hand.

"I'm now equipping both of the Aura Claws in my hand to my warrior, and from the most recent spell I activated, her attack is 3600. **(AN: reminder: Aura Claws give the equipped monster 700ATK so that's a 1400ATK boost)** Now attack him directly and destroy his remaining life points and if my calculations are correct that would be down to zero!"

A roar erupted from the crowd just as my monsters arrow pierced the creature. The feeling of fear evaporated from the students and was immediately replaced by admiration. Although I had dueled with people watching me before, this was different. I knew that these people would be around me at least until summer rather than just the match. It seemed like they weren't afraid of me though, but no one knows the way the mind can change so easily better than me.

I skeptically accepted their cheers while I made my way to a still dumbstruck Jesse. I wrapped my arms around him but I got no response from him what so ever. I tried to shake his shoulder slightly while waving my hand in front of his face but both his aura and his face had not changed.

"Jesse? Jess, snap out of it," I said while trying to keep the concern I felt out of my voice. He finally blinked and seemed to come out of his trance after a few seconds or so.

"Hey, what, sorry. I must have been really out of it. Nice job by the way. You won, right?" I smacked his arm and we both started laughing. He grabbed my hand and started to pull me somewhere. I briefly waved to Blair as I was dragged past her and I could almost feel the looks I was getting from her. Soon Jesse stopped and covered my eyes.

"I hate surprises! Please don't do this," I groaned as he began to lead me to yet another destination.

"Oh, Sage, just humor me for once. I really want to see how you'll react and stop trying to look into my mind to peek. Not cool, S, not cool," he giggled slightly. I'm not sure if he realized that he had just given me a nickname but I definitely felt my heart beat a bit faster after that. I allowed my eyes to revert though as he continued to lead me.

After we walked, well stumbled in my case, for a few more minutes he lifted his hands from my eyes. I found myself next to the tree I had come to my first day on the island. The area had changed since then but I still felt myself get a bit calmer at the sight of it. Most noticeable, though, was the new rope swing hanging from a now snowy branch. I turned to see Jesse observing me and knew what we both needed right now. His thoughts seemed to echo my own, as he sat on the swing motioning for me to join him.

"S, I need to talk to you about well, my past. And this time I know I want to. I feel like I know so much about you, but I know you don't have that luxury. It might explain a bit about why I've been acting kind of weird too," he said adverting my gaze. As a small tear trickled down his face I leaned into him a bit more and grabbed his hand and brought it to my face.

"You know you can't scare me off Jess. I'll be here for you and know that, bluntly, I'm yours in any way you need me," I whispered into his spiky teal hair. That must have been the encouragement he needed because he began to start.

"I sort of all began when…"

**Heh heh sorry for the cliffe but I didn't want this chapter to be 10000+ words. Tell me if you love it or hate it! **

**See Ya!**


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